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Webster 1913 Edition

Cat

Cat

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Catted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Catting
.]
(Naut.)
To bring to the cathead;
as, to
cat
an anchor
. See
Anchor
.
Totten.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cat

CAT

,
Noun.
1.
A name applied to certain species of carnivorous quadrupeds, of the genus Felis. The domestic cat needs no description. It is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful. It is kept in houses, chiefly for the purpose of catching rats and mice. The wild cat is much larger than the domestic cat. It is a strong, ferocious animal, living in the forest, and very destructive to poultry and lambs.
The wild cat of Europe is of the same species with the domestic cat; the catamount, of N. America, is much larger and a distinct species.
2.
A ship formed on the Norwegian model, having a narrow stern, projecting quarters, and a deep waist. It is strong built, from four to six hundred tons burthen, and employed in the coal trade.
3.
A strong tackle or combination of pulleys, to hook and draw an anchor perpendicularly up to the cat-head of a ship.
4.
A double tripod having six feet.
Cat of nine tails, an instrument of punishment, consisting of nine pieces of line or cord fastened to a piece of thick rope, and having three knots at intervals, used to flog offenders on board of ships.

Definition 2024

Cat

Cat

See also: cat and CAT

English

Proper noun

Cat ‎(plural Cats)

  1. A diminutive of the female given name Catherine.

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of Caterpillar (corporation and brand)

Noun

Cat ‎(plural Cats)

  1. (slang) A piece of heavy machinery, such as a backhoe, of the Caterpillar brand.

Anagrams

cat

cat

See also: Cat, CAT, cât, and .cat

English

A domestic cat

Noun

cat ‎(plural cats)

  1. An animal of the family Felidae:
    • 2011, Karl Kruszelnicki, Brain Food, ISBN 1466828129, page 53:
      Mammals need two genes to make the taste receptor for sugar. Studies in various cats (tigers, cheetahs and domestic cats) showed that one of these genes has mutated and no longer works.
    1. A domesticated subspecies (Felis silvestris catus) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet. [from 8thc.]
      • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter II:
        At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
    2. Any similar animal of the family Felidae, which includes lions, tigers, bobcats, etc.
  2. A catfish.
    • 1913, Willa Cather, chapter 2, in O Pioneers!:
      She missed the fish diet of her own country, and twice every summer she sent the boys to the river, twenty miles to the southward, to fish for channel cat.
  3. A person.
    1. (offensive) A spiteful or angry woman. [from earlier 13thc.]
    2. An enthusiast or player of jazz.
      • 2008, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (lyrics and music), “Hold on to Yourself”:
        I turn on the radio / There's some cat on the saxophone / Laying down a litany of excuses
    3. (slang) A person (usually male).
    4. (slang) A prostitute. [from at least early 15thc.]
  4. (nautical) A strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship.
  5. (chiefly nautical) Short form of cat-o'-nine-tails.
    • 1839, Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, testimony by Henry L. Pinckney (Assembly No. 335), page 44:
      […] he whipped a black man for disobedience of his orders fifty lashes; and again whipped him with a cat, which he wound with wire, about the same number of stripes; […] he used this cat on one other man, and then destroyed the cat wound with wire.
  6. (slang) Any of a variety of earth-moving machines. (from their manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.)
  7. (archaic) A sturdy merchant sailing vessel (now only in "catboat").
  8. (archaic, uncountable) The game of "trap and ball" (also called "cat and dog").
    1. The trap of the game of "trap and ball".
  9. (slang, vulgar, African American Vernacular) A ****, a ****; the female external genitalia.
    • 1969, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, Holloway House Publishing:
      "What the ****, so this broad's got a prematurely-gray cat."
    • 2005, Carolyn Chambers Sanders, Sins & Secrets, Hachette Digital:
      As she came up, she tried to put her cat in his face for some licking.
    • 2007, Franklin White, Money for Good, Simon and Schuster, page 64:
      I had a notion to walk over to her, rip her apron off, sling her housecoat open and put my finger inside her cat to see if she was wet or freshly fucked because the dream I had earlier was beginning to really annoy me.
  10. A double tripod (for holding a plate, etc.) with six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever position it is placed.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

cat ‎(third-person singular simple present cats, present participle catting, simple past and past participle catted)

  1. (nautical, transitive) To hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead.
  2. (nautical, transitive) To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
  3. (slang) To vomit something.
Translations

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of catamaran.

Noun

cat ‎(plural cats)

  1. A catamaran.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of catenate.

Noun

cat ‎(plural cats)

  1. (computing) A program and command in Unix that reads one or more files and directs their content to the standard output.

Verb

cat ‎(third-person singular simple present cats, present participle catting, simple past and past participle catted)

  1. (computing, transitive) To apply the cat command to (one or more files).
  2. (computing, slang) To dump large amounts of data on (an unprepared target) usually with no intention of browsing it carefully.

Etymology 4

Possibly a shortened form of catastrophic.

Adjective

cat ‎(not comparable)

  1. (Ireland, informal) terrible, disastrous.
    The weather was cat, so they returned home early.‎
Usage notes

This usage is common in speech but rarely appears in writing.

Etymology 5

Shortened from methcathinone.

Noun

cat ‎(uncountable)

  1. (slang) A street name of the drug methcathinone.

Etymology 6

Shortened from catapult.

Noun

cat ‎(plural cats)

  1. (military, naval) A catapult.
    a carrier's bow cats‎

References

  1. ↑ Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, s.v. "cat", [html], retrieved on 29 September 2009: .
  2. ↑ Jean-Paul Savignac, Dictionnaire français-gaulois, s.v. "chat" (Paris: Errance, 2004), 82.

Anagrams

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay cat, from Min Nan 漆 ‎(chhat), from Middle Chinese 漆 ‎(tsit).

Noun

cat

  1. paint (substance)

Irish

Cat

Etymology

From Old Irish catt, from Latin cattus.

Pronunciation

Noun

cat m ‎(genitive singular cait, nominative plural cait)

  1. cat (domestic feline; member of the Felidae)

Declension

Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
cat chat gcat
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

Lojban

Rafsi

cat

  1. rafsi of cartu.

Malay

cat

Etymology

From Min Nan 漆 ‎(chhat), from Middle Chinese 漆 ‎(tsit).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡ʃat/
  • Rhymes: -t͡ʃat, -at

Noun

cat ‎(Jawi spelling چت)

  1. paint (substance)

Middle English

Noun

cat (plural cats)

  1. cat (feline)

Norman

Etymology

Old Northern French cat (Old French chat) < Late Latin cattus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ka/

Noun

cat m ‎(plural cats, feminine catte)

  1. cat
    • c. 1830, George Métivier, ‘Lamentations de Damaris’:
      Où'est donc qu'j'iron, mé et mes puches / Ma catte, et l'reste de l'écu?
    • 2006, Peggy Collenette, ‘D'la gâche de Guernési’, P'tites Lures Guernésiaises, Cromwell Press 2006, page 20:
      Ils d'visirent pour enne haeure, mais la Louise était pas chagrinaïe au tour sa pâte, pasqué a savait que le cat était à gardaïr la pâte caoude. (They talked for an hour, but Louise was not worried about her dough, because she knew that the cat was keeping the dough warm.)
  2. (Jersey) common dab (Limanda limanda)

Derived terms

Old French

Noun

cat m ‎(oblique plural caz or catz, nominative singular caz or catz, nominative plural cat)

  1. (Picardy, Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of chat

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowing from Turkish kat.

Noun

cat n ‎(plural cate)

  1. floor (storey)

Declension

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish catt, from Latin cattus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kʰaʰt̪/

Noun

cat m ‎(genitive singular cait, plural cait)

  1. cat (animal)

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology

Abbreviation of Catherine or Caitlin, although the latter has seen a general change in pronunciation in the past few decades.

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