cat
cat
noun
/kæt/
1 a small animal with soft fur that people often keep as a pet. Cats catch and kill birds and mice.
a tin of cat food
I have a cat called Bo.
a pet/domestic cat
a stray/feral cat
Cats mark their territory by spraying.
In our childhood Irina and I fought like cat and dog.
The cat miaowed pitifully.
The cat slunk away into the darkness.
The cat was in constant pain so they had it put down.
The stray cats are wormed and treated with flea powder.
There was a cat yowling outside my window last night.
They didn't want kittens, so they had their cat spayed.
We have a pet cat called Archie.
SEE ALSO the Cheshire Cat, kitten, Manx cat, marmalade cat, Persian cat, pussycat, Siamese cat, tomcat
TOPICS Animals A1
Collocations
adjective
domestic
family
house
verb + cat
have
keep
own
cat + verb
hiss
mew
miaow/​meow…
cat + noun
door
flap
food
phrases
fight like cat and dog
play (a game of) cat and mouse…
​2 a wild animal of the cat family
the big cats (= lions, tigers, etc.)
She went to Africa to photograph big cats.
SEE ALSO fat cat, wildcat
Idioms
be the cat’s whiskers/pyjamas
be raining cats and dogs
(has the) cat got your tongue?
curiosity killed the cat
let the cat out of the bag
like a cat on a hot tin roof
like a cat that’s got the cream
like herding cats
look like something the cat brought/dragged in
no room to swing a cat
not have/stand a cat in hell’s chance
play (a game of) cat and mouse with somebody | play a cat-and-mouse game with somebody
put/set the cat among the pigeons
there’s more than one way to skin a cat
when the cat’s away, the mice will play
Word Origin
Old English catt, catte, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kat and German Katze; reinforced in Middle English by forms from late Latin cattus.