tabby cat
1
1.0
- noun
- /ˈtæbi kæt/
:
gato atigrado
- Unbuttoning the top stud of his shirt, he shooed away the tabby cat that tried to rub against his legs.
- an orange tabby cat
- a stray tabby cat
- a fat tabby cat
Big fat pay pay a somewhat portly, portly tabby cat who does not enjoy.
- Big fat pay pay a somewhat portly, portly tabby cat who does not enjoy.
Examples
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Mathair and I have always been more prone to feline love, and our mascot, Peaches, my orange tabby cat, is the reason.
Blog text (23) -
Inside, he stood slightly crouched, darting looks everywhere, first of all to a large tabby cat that sat on a chair arm.
Fiction book (2000) -
One featured a yellow tabby cat; the other featured a red ball.
Academic text (2013) -
All day we basked in jazz while the tabby cat watched out the window.
Fiction book (2002) -
Orange tabby cats are my personal favorite, but don't tell the others.
Blog text (23) -
The orange tabby cat scratches itself on the leg of the ladder.
Fiction book (2001) -
A large tabby cat stared angrily at me.
Fiction book (2000) -
The orange tabby cat meows, and Luke glances toward it, standing onstage by the edge of the screen.
Fiction book (2001) -
They have a tabby cat named Jake and a fake ficus tree sitting by their recliner.
Fiction book (2001) -
The orange and white tabby cat sat on the windowsill, licking its paw.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A small, furry pet or a large wild animal like a lion
155
1.0
A house cat people call in a friendly way, often by children
12
3.5
A pet cat people call in a friendly way to children
6
1.0
A cat, usually female, with a coat marked with dark stripes or spots
A domestic cat with dark stripes like a tiger
How Patterned
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a domestic cat with a patterned coat' is directly and compositionally derived from 'tabby' (marked with stripes, spots, or swirls) + 'cat' (a feline). This simple adjective+noun combination follows regular English patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand it.
Etymology
Tabby cat The name tabby cat may come from a kind of striped silk called tabby that was once sold on a street near Baghdad. People thought the wavy silk looked like the cat's striped fur, so tabby cat came to mean a cat with a 'striped' or 'patterned' coat.