cat

Study(34)

/ˈkæt/

noun 18verb 7name 6adj 1

Collocations

(noun.)

ADJ

domestic, family, household, pet

big

My neighbor has a big cat that weighs almost twenty pounds.

Cheshire

The child's Cheshire cat smile was so wide that her eyes nearly disappeared.

fat

My neighbor's fat cat refuses to exercise and just sleeps on the porch all day.

VERB + CAT

have, keep, own

My grandmother keeps three cats in her house and feeds them every morning.

feed | stroke

neuter, spay

We took our new pet to the vet to have her neutered last month.

worm

The vet will worm your cat when you bring it in for its annual checkup.

put down

When our elderly cat became very sick, we decided it was time to have her put down.

CAT + VERB

hiss, mew, miaow, purr, spit, yowl

When my cat purrs, I know she's happy and content.

bite (sb), scratch (sb)

creep, pad, (be on the) prowl, slink

The cat crept across the garden fence and disappeared into the bushes.

arch its back | cower, crouch | curl up | catch sth, hunt (sth), stalk sth | leap, pounce (on sth), spring

spray (sth)

The cat sprayed all over the furniture when we brought the new dog home.

CAT + NOUN

door, flap | food | litter | lover, owner | phobia

nap, catnap

The cat took a quick nap on the sunny windowsill after playing all morning.

PHRASES

fight like cat and dog

My two brothers fight like cat and dog, but they still help each other.

play (a game of) cat and mouse

The two companies have been playing cat and mouse for years over the patent dispute.

Definitions

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.

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 group of wild cats is called a destruction.

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.

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.

Terms relating to animals.

civet cat polecat

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 […]

To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.

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.

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.

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.

noun

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

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — a method of examining body organs by scanning them with X ra

noun — a large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless met

caterpillar

noun — a whip with nine knotted cords

cat-o'-nine-tails

noun — the leaves of the shrub Catha edulis which are chewed like t

kat
khat
qat
quat

noun — an informal term for a youth or man

guy
hombre
bozo
sod

verb — eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

there's more than one way to skin a cat

A problem generally has more than one solution; there is more than one way to achieve a goal.

At any rate, thought I, there's more than one way to skin a cat, as a butcher would say.

let the cat out of the bag

To disclose a secret; to let a secret be known, often inadvertently.

It was going to be a surprise party until someone let the cat out of the bag.

dead cat bounce

A temporary recovery in the price of a financial instrument which has fallen rapidly and is expected to fall further in the long run.

Now, if you look at the chart of a stock that has suffered a collapse, you will see that at the bottom of each drop there is a small uptick, a rise in the price. This uptick, repre

curiosity killed the cat

One should not be curious about things that can be dangerous.

bell the cat

To undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group.

Example Bank

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.

Wiktionary

A group of wild cats is called a destruction.

Wiktionary

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

Wiktionary

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

Wiktionary

"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.

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, cat is marked as archaic, slang, informal, colloquial. Watch for register when choosing this word.

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