
ETYMOLOGY
from tom (a male cat) + -ling
EXAMPLE
“…We are promised to succeed him a Black Tomling, whom I have named Prester John – that hierarch being the most remarkable black potentate whom I could call to mind. Long live Prester John! and may he be more fortunate than his predecessors, Othello and Pulcheria. …”
From: Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey
Edited by John Wood Warter, Vol. III, 1856
Letter from R.S. to G.C.B., April 29, 1821