cat

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats

   wildcats

2. 2
   noun

   a whip with nine knotted cords

   British sailors feared the cat

3. 3
   noun

   a spiteful woman gossip

   You are such a cat!

4. 4
   noun

   Terms relating to animals.

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   Terms relating to people.

   But, ere one rapid moon its tale has told, / He finds his prize — a cat — a slut — a scold.

6. 6
   verb

   To hoist (an anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead.

   The anchors were catted at the bows of the yacht […]

7. 7
   verb

   To vomit.

   ‘He's going to cat, Maxim,’ said the Pussum warningly. The suave young Russian rose and took Halliday by the arm, leading him away.

8. 8
   verb

   To go wandering at night.

   "He doesn't realize that I know," Lord Callan said, "but it's been pretty obvious that most of his catting about London's darker alleys has been a search for his origins.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *kattuz Proto-West Germanic *kattu Old English catt Middle English cat English cat From Middle English cat, catte, from Old English catt (“male cat”), catte (“female cat”), from Proto-West Germanic *kattu, from Proto-Germanic *kattuz, generally thought to be from Late Latin cattus (“domestic cat”) (c. 350, Palladius), from Latin catta (c. 75 A.D., Martial), possibly from an Afroasiatic language. This would roughly match how domestic cats themselves spread, as genetic studies suggest they began to spread out of the Near East / Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic…