Definition for: cat

- Audio - Mouse over the speaker at the bottom of the screen to hear the sound of "cat"

- Other Translations

English

Pronunciation

• AHD: /kăt/ , IPA: /kæt/ , SAMPA: /k{t/
• Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

Old English catt ( m . ), catte ( f . ), from Germanic *kattuz , from late Latin cattus; reinforced during Middle English by Old North French cat , a variation of Old (and modern) French chat , also from late Latin cattus . Cognate with Dutch kat, German Katze, French chat, Spanish and Portuguese gato.

Noun

cat ( plural cats )

1. ( countable ) A domesticated species of the feline species ( Felis silvestris ) commonly kept as a house pet.
2. ( countable ) Any similar animal of the family Felidae , which includes lions, tigers, etc.
3. ( countable ) A catfish.
4. ( countable ) A spiteful woman.
5. ( countable ) An enthusiast or player of jazz
6. ( countable ) A guy, fellow
7. ( countable ) A strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship.
8. ( countable ) ( nautical ) Contraction of cat-o'-nine-tails. No room to swing a cat .
9. ( countable ) A sturdy merchant sailing vessel (now only in catboat)
10. ( archaic ) A mess of coarse meal and clay, placed in dove-cotes to allure strangers.
11. ( archaic ) A ferret.
12. ( archaic ) The trap of the game of Trap and Ball (also called the game of Cat and Dog), or the game itself.

Translations

domestic species

member of Felidae

catfish See catfish

spiteful woman See bitch

jazz enthusiast

guy, fellow

strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship

cat-o'-nine-tails See cat-o'-nine-tails

catboat See catboat

The game of Trap and Ball (or Cat and Dog) or its trap

Synonyms

• ( any member of Felidae ): feline
• ( domestic species ): tame cat, housecat
• ( man ): bloke ( British ), chap ( British ), cove ( British ), dude, fellow, guy
• ( spiteful woman ): bitch

Verb

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

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

Translations

raise anchor to cathead

flog

vomit

Idioms

Related terms

Etymology 2

Abbreviations.

Noun

cat ( plural cats )

1. A catamaran.
2. ( slang ) The Caterpillar brand of heavy machinery.
3. ( computing ) A ‘catenate’ program and command in Unix that reads one or more files and simply directs their content to an output device.

Verb

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

1. ( transitive ) ( computing ) To apply the cat command to (a file),
2. ( transitive ) ( computing ) ( slang ) By extension, to dump large amounts of data on an unprepared target or with no intention of browsing it carefully.

Etymology 3

Possibly a shortened form of chaotic.

Adjective

cat

1. (Ireland. colloquial) terrible, disasterous.

   The weather was cat, so they returned home early.

Usage notes

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

See also

• feline
• kitten
• meow
• mog
• miaow
• nine lives
• Schrödinger’s cat

Indonesian

Noun

cat

1. paint

Irish

Noun

cat f .

1. A cat

Romanian

Etymology

Turkish kat

Noun

cat m . , f .

1. floor (storey)

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

cat m . , gen and pl . cait

1. cat

Other Translations for "cat"

Braille 6 Dot
Braille 8 Dot
Sign Language Spelling
Morse Code		cat
Hex		63 e1 74
Pig Latin		atcay

Click the speaker below to hear how the word "cat" sounds when it is pronunced.

HTML Link to "cat":
<a href="http://www.yawiktionary.com/c/1148342538564.html">Definition of cat</a>
It will appear like this: Definition of cat BB Link to "cat":
[URL=http://www.yawiktionary.com/c/1148342538564.html]Definition of cat[/URL]

---