fisher cat
1
9.1
- noun
- /ˈfɪʃər kæt/
- US
:
gato pescador
- We live on 20 acres with plenty of foxes, fisher cats, and coyotes to stalk kitties who can't defend themselves.
Examples
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My friend told me that a fisher cat is known for its ability to hunt in both trees and on the ground.
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While hiking in the forest, we spotted a fisher cat climbing a tree in search of food.
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The fisher cat is often mistaken for a large domestic cat due to its size and coloring.
Synonyms
3
9.1
A large dark brown mammal like a weasel that lives in trees and eats small animals
A large dark brown animal that lives in trees in North America and hunts small animals
A large dark brown wild animal that climbs trees to hunt
Surface Forms
Morphology
Both constituents are animal words, so a learner who knows 'fisher' (the weasel-family carnivore) and 'cat' will recognise this as the name of an animal; however the compound is not fully compositional because the referent is a non-feline mustelid rather than a true cat, and the presence of 'cat' can mislead learners. This partial mismatch between the literal parts and the established lexicalized meaning makes the expression only partially predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Fisher cat may come from old fur traders who used the word fisher for a European fur animal and then added cat because this North American animal looks a bit like a cat. So, even though the fisher cat rarely eats fish, the name stuck and now refers to the large, tree-climbing animal that hunts small animals.