cat🔊

An animal of the family Felidae. +

A carnivorous, four-legged, generally furry domesticated species (Felis catus) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet. +

The flesh of animals of the family Felidae eaten as food. +

Any chiefly non-domesticated, animal of the family Felidae, which includes bobcats, caracals, cheetahs, cougars, leopards, lions, lynxes, tigers, and other such species.

(by extension) An animal not of the family Felidae which (somewhat) resembles a domestic feline.

(figurative, derogatory, offensive) An angry or spiteful person, especially a woman. +

(figurative, slang, dated) An ordinary person, especially a man; a fellow, a guy. +

(figurative, US, slang) Itinerant worker.

(figurative, originally US, jazz, slang) A jazz musician; also, an enthusiast of jazz music. +

(figurative, slang, obsolete) Prostitute.

(by extension) A double tripod for holding a plate, etc., with six feet, of which three rest on the ground in whatever position it is placed.

(by extension, games, archaic) The game of trap ball; also (countable), the trap in that game.

(by extension, games, archaic) The pointed piece of wood that is struck in the game of tipcat.

(by extension, nautical) A strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship.

(by extension, chiefly nautical) Cat-o'-nine-tails.

(by extension, nautical, archaic) A sturdy merchant sailing vessel.

(by extension, military, historical) A wheeled shelter, used in the Middle Ages to protect assailants approaching besieged enemy defences; a cathouse.

(by extension, African-American Vernacular, slang, vulgar) A vagina or vulva.

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

(nautical) To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.

(slang) To vomit.

To go wandering at night.

To gossip in a catty manner.

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

(computing) To apply the cat command to (one or more files).

(computing, slang) To dump large amounts of data on (an unprepared target), usually with no intention of browsing it carefully.

(slang) (A street name of the drug methcathinone.)

(Ireland, colloquial) Catastrophic; terrible, disastrous.