Word Meanings - CAT - Book Publishers vocabulary database

An animal of various species of the genera Felis and Lynx. The domestic cat is Felis domestica. The European wild cat is much larger than the domestic cat. In the United States the name wild cat is commonly applied to the bay lynx See Wild cat,

Additional info about word: CAT

An animal of various species of the genera Felis and Lynx. The domestic cat is Felis domestica. The European wild cat is much larger than the domestic cat. In the United States the name wild cat is commonly applied to the bay lynx See Wild cat, and Tiger cat. Note: The domestic cat includes many varieties named from their place of origin or from some peculiarity; as, the Angora cat; the Maltese cat; the Manx cat. Note: The word cat is also used to designate other animals, from some fancied resemblance; as, civet cat, fisher cat, catbird, catfish shark, sea cat. A strong vessel with a narrow stern, projecting quarters, and deep waist. It is employed in the coal and timber trade. A strong tackle used to draw an anchor up to the cathead of a ship. Totten. 3. A double tripod , having six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever position in is placed. 4. An old game; The game of tipcat and the implement with which it is played. See Tipcat. A game of ball, called, according to the number of batters, one old cat, two old cat, etc. 5. A cat o' nine tails. See below. Angora cat, blind cat, See under Angora, Blind. -- Black cat the fisher. See under Black. -- Cat and dog, like a cat and dog; quarrelsome; inharmonius. "I am sure we have lived a cat and dog life of it." Coleridge. -- Cat block , a heavy iron-strapped block with a large hook, part of the tackle used in drawing an anchor up to the cathead. -- Cat hook , a strong hook attached to a cat block. -- Cat nap, a very short sleep. -- Cat o' nine tails, an instrument of punishment consisting of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a handle; -- formerly used to flog offenders on the bare back. -- Cat's cradle, game played, esp. by children, with a string looped on the fingers so, as to resemble small cradle. The string is transferred from the fingers of one to those of another, at each transfer with a change of form. See Cratch, Cratch cradle. -- To let the cat out of the bag, to tell a secret, carelessly or willfully. -- Bush cat, the serval. See Serval. (more info) G. katze, kater, Ir. Cat, W. cath, Armor. kaz, LL. catus, Bisc.

Related words: (words related to CAT)

• APPLICABLE
  Capable of being applied; fit or suitable to be applied; having relevance; as, this observation is applicable to the case under consideration. -- Ap"pli*ca*ble*ness, n. -- Ap"pli*ca*bly, adv.
• STATESMANLIKE
  Having the manner or wisdom of statesmen; becoming a statesman.
• UNITERABLE
  Not iterable; incapable of being repeated. "To play away an uniterable life." Sir T. Browne.
• ANIMALIZATION
  1. The act of animalizing; the giving of animal life, or endowing with animal properties. 2. Conversion into animal matter by the process of assimilation. Owen.
• ANIMALCULISM
  The theory which seeks to explain certain physiological and pathological by means of animalcules.
• ANIMALITY
  Animal existence or nature. Locke.
• APPLICATIVE
  Having of being applied or used; applying; applicatory; practical. Bramhall. -- Ap"pli*ca*tive*ly, adv.
• GENERABILITY
  Capability of being generated. Johnstone.
• GENERALIZED
  Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.
• ANIMALLY
  Physically. G. Eliot.
• ANIMALNESS
  Animality.
• GENERALIZABLE
  Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule. Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable. Coleridge
• APPLICANCY
  The quality or state of being applicable.
• GENERA
  See GENUS
• APPLICABILITY
  The quality of being applicable or fit to be applied.
• GENERANT
  Generative; producing; esp. ,
• DOMESTICATE
  1. To make domestic; to habituate to home life; as, to domesticate one's self. 2. To cause to be, as it were, of one's family or country; as, to domesticate a foreign custom or word. 3. To tame or reclaim from a wild state; as, to domesticate wild
• UNITIVE
  Having the power of uniting; causing, or tending to produce, union. Jer. Taylor.
• GENERALTY
  Generality. Sir M. Hale.
• UNITARIANISM
  The doctrines of Unitarians.
• MAJOR GENERAL
  . An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
• UNREGENERACY
  The quality or state of being unregenerate. Glanvill.
• UNAPPLIABLE
  Inapplicable. Milton.
• REAPPLICATION
  The act of reapplying, or the state of being reapplied.
• RETROGENERATIVE
  Begetting young by retrocopulation.
• INGENERATION
  Act of ingenerating.