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A cat-o'-nine-tails is a whip made of nine cords, often with knots in them, used in the past to beat people as punishment. It was especially used on ships in the British navy. Sailors called it the cat for short, and to be given the cat meant to be flogged with it. The cat in the name is not an animal used as a whip: people said the marks on the back looked like a cat had scratched you. Nine tails means nine cords. It is a history word now. Those countries do not punish people this way any more. You may still meet it in old stories about the sea.
九尾鞭（舊時罰人用的九條繩鞭）
組成From cat + o' (of) + nine + tails. First written down in 1695. The 'cat' is about the look of the wounds, like a cat's scratch.
原始詞典資料2 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
cat-o'-nine-tailsnoun
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nauticaltransportA scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.
- But I do tell you one thing, if you ſhould give ſuch Language at Sea, you'd have a Cat o' Nine-tails laid croſs your Shoulders.
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A similarly constructed leather nine-tail whip, as used in British penal colonies and certain armies.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。