Siamese cat
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1.0
- noun
- /ˈsaɪəmiːz kæt/
:
gato siamés
- The summer I was eleven, I got a Siamese cat with beautiful blue eyes.
- blue-eyed Siamese cat
Examples
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The Siamese cat is a symbol of nobility in ancient Egypt.
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I'm looking for my sister's Siamese cat.
Fiction book (1995) -
We also have 2 Siamese cats.
Blog text (3) -
I live in Denver, Colorado, with my wife of 20 years and two Siamese cats.
Blog text (17) -
She has six Siamese cats.
Fiction book (1997) -
At 7:20 a.m., someone reported their Siamese cat missing from Blucher Valley Rd.
Blog text (17) -
A little half-Siamese cat with blue eyes came mewing around her feet, and Arlene bent down to pet her.
Fiction book (1999) -
"His face got hurt in April." "The cat—a Siamese cat?"
Fiction book (1995) -
He would walk around her apartment picking up the photos of her late Siamese cat Maureen and her tube of papaya hand cream.
Fiction book (1995) -
Because Lindsay's eyes were on the gnarled trunk of the big tree, she spotted the triangular face of the landlady's Siamese cat between the leaves on the lowest branch.
Fiction book (1995)
Synonyms
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1.9
A slender short-haired cat with blue eyes and darker ears, face, paws, and tail
A Siamese cat with a pale bluish cream body and darker grey ears, face, paws and tail
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'Siamese' (a specific breed) with 'cat' (a feline), indicating a cat of that breed with characteristic markings. This straightforward noun+noun composition follows common cross-linguistic patterns and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Siamese cat comes from the old name 'Siam' for Thailand, where these cats were often kept in temples and royal homes. People noticed their pale bodies with darker ears, face, paws and tail that looked like a mask and gloves, so today Siamese cat means the slim breed with blue eyes and darker 'points'.