Cat Definition

kăt
cats, catted, catting
noun
cats
A small, lithe, soft-furred animal (Felis cattus) of this family, domesticated since ancient times and often kept as a pet or for killing mice.
Webster's New World
Any of a family (Felidae) of carnivores, including the lion, tiger, cougar, etc., characterized by a lithe body and, in all species but the cheetah, retractile claws.
Webster's New World
The fur of a domestic cat.
American Heritage
A person regarded as being like a cat in some way, as in temperament; specif., a woman who makes spiteful remarks.
Webster's New World
Webster's New World
verb
cats, catted, catting
To hoist (an anchor) to the cathead.
Webster's New World
To look for sexual partners; have an affair or affairs.
American Heritage
(nautical) To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
Wiktionary

(slang) To vomit something.

Wiktionary

(computing) To apply the cat command to (one or more files).

Wiktionary
abbreviation
Catalog.
Webster's New World
Clear-air turbulence.
Webster's New World
Computerized axial tomography.
American Heritage Medicine
Catechism.
Webster's New World

The sponsored top-level doman for Catalonia and the Catalan language.

Wiktionary
adjective

(Ireland, informal) Terrible, disastrous.

The weather was cat, so they returned home early.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
pronoun

A diminutive of the female given name Catherine.

Wiktionary
idiom
let the cat out of the bag
  • To let a secret be known.
American Heritage
cat around
  • to search promiscuously for sexual partners; be promiscuous
Webster's New World
let the cat out of the bag
  • to let a secret be found out
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Cat

Noun

Singular:
cat
Plural:
CATS

Origin of Cat

  • From Middle English cat, catte, from Old English catt (“male cat”) and catte (“female cat”), from Late Latin cattus (“domestic cat”), from Latin catta (used around 75 BCE by Martial), from Afro-Asiatic (compare Nubian kadís, Berber kaddîska 'wildcat'), from Late Egyptian čaute, feminine of čaus 'jungle cat, African wildcat', from earlier Egyptian tešau 'female cat'. Cognate with Scots cat (“cat”), Welsh cath (“cat”), West Frisian kat (“cat”), North Frisian kåt (“cat”), Dutch kat (“cat”), Low German Katt, Katte (“cat”), German Katze (“cat”), Danish kat (“cat”), Swedish katt (“cat”), Icelandic köttur (“cat”), Armenian կատու (katu, “cat”), Occitan cat.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English catt from Germanic kattuz Late Latin cattus Old Church Slavonic kotŭka all ultimately of unknown origin Sense 6d, short for catamaran

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Possibly a shortened form of catastrophic.

    From Wiktionary

  • Shortened from methcathinone.

    From Wiktionary

  • Abbreviation of Caterpillar.

    From Wiktionary

  • Abbreviation of catamaran.

    From Wiktionary

  • Abbreviation of Catherine.

    From Wiktionary

  • Abbreviation of catenate.

    From Wiktionary

  • Shortened from catapult.

    From Wiktionary

  • category +"Ž 5

    From Wiktionary

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