cat

noun

1. (countable)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.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Terms relating to animals.

   “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.”

   “A major genetic survey of nearly 1,000 feral and domestic cats has revealed that every breed of household cat alive today originates from just five lineages which lived alongside ancient settlers in the Fertile Crescent, an area stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.”

   “A group of wild cats is called a destruction.”

3. (uncountable)Terms relating to animals.

   ““[…]—Say, do you mind telling me if people around here really eat cats?” He felt a shiver in the pit of his stomach. “Do they eat cat?” said the little old man, profoundly shocked.”

   “You do not eat cat simply for the thrill of eating cat. You eat cat because cats have a lively jingshen, or spirit, and thus by eating the animal you will improve your spirits.”

   “I ate at a Chinese restaurant once, even though my friends told me I would probably be eating cat and dog disguised as chicken.”

4. (countable, uncountable)Terms relating to animals.

   “I grabbed it and ran over to the lion from behind, the cat still chewing thoughtfully on Silent's arm.”

   “If you should someday round a corner on the hiking trail and come face to face with a mountain lion, you would probably never forget the mighty cat.”

   “She felt privileged to be here, living the experience inside the majestic cat [a tiger]; privileged to be part of their bond, even for only a few hours.”

5. (broadly, countable)Terms relating to animals.

   “civet cat    polecat”

6. (countable, derogatory, figuratively, offensive, uncountable)Terms relating to people.

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

7. (countable, dated, figuratively, slang, uncountable)Terms relating to people.

   “Now you've listened to my story / Here's the point that I have made / Cats were born to give chicks fever / Be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade”

   “Didn't know what time it was the lights were low / I leaned back on my radio / Some cat was layin' down some rock'n'roll 'lotta soul, he said”

   “1973 December, "Books Noted", discussing A Dialogue (by James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni), in Black World, Johnson Publishing Company, 77. BALDWIN: That's what we were talking about before. And by the way, you did not have to tell me that you think your father is a groovy cat; I knew that.”

   “What fags are true I know what Mack's might do I'm quite familiar with cats like you Provoke to get me give me a good reason to smoke me Try to break me but never wrote me)”

   “I started showing up early for every team practice, and when all those other cats jetted to hit the showers, I put in even more work on the court, eliminating my weaknesses, practicing drills and perfecting my outside shot.”

8. (US, countable, figuratively, slang, uncountable)Terms relating to people.
9. (countable, figuratively, slang, uncountable)Terms relating to people.

   “a jazz cat”

   “I turn on the radio / There's some cat on the saxophone / Laying down a litany of excuses”

10. (countable, figuratively, obsolete, slang, uncountable)Terms relating to people.

    “"Tell me. Willie said there was a cat in love with you. That isn't true, is it?" "Yes. It's true," Hudson corrects her, letting her think that by "cat" he means prostitute.”

11. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Terms relating to things.
12. (archaic, broadly, uncountable)Terms relating to things.
13. (archaic, broadly, countable)Terms relating to things.
14. (broadly, countable, uncountable)Terms relating to things.

    “Overhaul down & hook the cat, haul taut. Walk away the cat. When up, pass the cat head stopper. Hook the fish in & fish the anchor.”

15. (abbreviation, alt-of, broadly, countable, ellipsis, uncountable)Terms relating to things.

    “[H]e 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.”

16. (archaic, broadly, countable, uncountable)Terms relating to things.
17. (broadly, countable, historical, uncountable)Terms relating to things.

    “From behind the narrow slits in the walls of Castellar, crossbowmen and archers took aim at the juddering cat as it came closer.”

18. (broadly, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar)Terms relating to things.

    “"What the hell, so this broad's got a prematurely-gray cat."”

    “As she came up, she tried to put her cat in his face for some licking.”

    “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.”

19. A program and command in Unix that reads one or more files and directs their content to the standard output.
20. (slang)A street name of the drug methcathinone.
21. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of catapult.

    “a carrier's bow cats”

22. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of catalytic converter.
23. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of catamaran.

    “These cats are a lot of fun in the harbor, but they're a real thrill on the open ocean riding ground swells.”

24. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of category.
25. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of catfish.

    “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.”

    “Fishing for cat is probably, up to a certain stage, the least exciting of all similar sports.”

26. (slang)Abbreviation of caterpillar.
27. Abbreviation of caterpillar.
28. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of computed axial tomography; often used attributively, as in “CAT scan” or “CT scan”.
29. (slang)A piece of heavy machinery, such as a backhoe or bulldozer, of the Caterpillar brand. (Occasionally, loosely, any big yellow machine of the type.)

    “Upon touring the mine, they found it to be a veritable canyon with some monstrous Cats trundling in the background.”

30. (informal)A Catalina flying boat.
31. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of Central Atlas Tamazight.
32. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of computer-adaptive test.
33. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of common admission test.
34. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of civil air transport.
35. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of clear-air turbulence.
36. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of computed axial tomography.
37. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of career aptitude test.
38. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of computer-assisted/aided translation.
39. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of credit authorization terminal.
40. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of citizenship advancement training.
41. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of computer-aided transceiver.
42. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of cosmic anisotropy telescope.
43. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of coital alignment technique.
44. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of conidial anastomosis tube.
45. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase.
46. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of crisis assessment team.
47. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of Consumer Acceptance of Technology.

verb

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

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

2. (transitive)To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
3. (archaic, slang)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.”

4. 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.”

   “This was going to be my first try at catting out. I went looking for somebody to cat with me.”

   “My own dear wife could have tended to his needs if she hadn't been out catting.”

5. To gossip in a catty manner.

   “Men from young to middleaged, with matt faces, vivacious and brightly dressed, catted together in gay groups.”

   “They smiled, touched, rolled their eyes and raised their eyebrows, as they relived the audition and catted about some of their competition.”

   “In the story, Lady Ina gossiped and catted about a parade of the rich and famous—Jackie Kennedy looking like an exaggerated version of herself, Princess Margaret so boring she made people fall asleep, Gloria Vanderbilt so ditzy she didn't recognize her first husband.”

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

adj

1. (Ireland, colloquial, not-comparable)Catastrophic; terrible, disastrous.

   “The weather was cat, so they returned home early.”

name

1. A diminutive of the female given names Catherine or Caitlin.
2. Centre for Alternative Technology
3. Counter Assault Team
4. Citizens Area Transit
5. Canadian Achievement Tests
6. Cambridge Antibody Technology
7. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of Caterpillar Inc..

   “Caterpillar (CAT)and Boston Consulting Group said their top executives would go but the companies are monitoring the situation closely.”