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Glite Dictionary
blue cat

blue cat

6.8
Large catfish with bluish skin that lives in the Mississippi valley
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : pez gato azul
  • The blue cat is a popular choice among anglers for its size and unique color.

Examples

  • Sammy's the Big Blue cat and Cami's the camo catfish.

  • Last summer, I went fishing and proudly caught a blue cat from the Mississippi River.

  • At the local fishing tournament, many participants aimed to catch the largest blue cat in the lake.

Synonyms

blue catfish
vsblue cat
  • US
1 4.6

A large freshwater fish with blue skin that lives in North American rivers

emphasizes being valued for sport fishing rather than only biological traits
blue channel cat
vsblue cat
  • US
8.8

A large freshwater catfish with long whiskers and blue-gray color that lives in the Mississippi River

focuses on its value to anglers rather than on physical whisker detail
blue channel catfish
vsblue cat
  • US
6.7

A large catfish with bluish gray skin and a forked tail that lives in rivers like the Mississippi

stresses its value as a popular game fish mainly in the Mississippi valley

Surface Forms

blue cat singular
blue cats plural

Morphology

blue + cat

A B1 learner who knows 'blue' and 'cat' will most likely interpret 'blue cat' as a blue-colored feline, but the listed meaning refers to a species of catfish (blue cat[fish]), not a literal cat. The fish-species reading is not derivable from the literal constituents and relies on a specialized noun-compound/folk name, so it is not predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Blue cat comes from the fish's look: people called it a 'cat' because of whisker-like barbels and added blue for its bluish skin. So blue cat simply means 'a large catfish' from rivers like the Mississippi.