Cat CAT, n. 1. A name applied to certain species of carnivorous
quadrupeds, of the genus Felis. The domestic cat needs no description. It
is a deceitful animal, and when enraged, extremely spiteful. It is kept in
houses, chiefly for the purpose of catching rats and mice. The wild cat
is much larger than the domestic cat. It is a strong, ferocious animal,
living in the forest, and very destructive to poultry and lambs.
The wild cat of Europe is of the same species with the domestic cat;
the catamount, of N. America, is much larger and a distinct species.
2. A ship formed on the Norwegian model, having a narrow stern, projecting
quarters, and a deep waist. It is strong built, from four to six hundred
tons burthen, and employed in the coal trade. 3. A strong tackle or
combination of pulleys, to hook and draw an anchor perpendicularly up to
the cat-head of a ship. 4. A double tripod having six feet. Cat
of nine tails, an instrument of punishment, consisting of nine pieces of
line or cord fastened to a piece of thick rope, and having three knots
at intervals, used to flog offenders on board of ships.
cat
n 1: feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability
to roar: domestic cats; wildcats [syn: cat, true cat]
2: an informal term for a youth or man; "a nice guy"; "the guy's
only doing it for some doll" [syn: guy, cat, hombre,
bozo]
3: a spiteful woman gossip; "what a cat she is!"
4: the leaves of the shrub Catha edulis which are chewed like
tobacco or used to make tea; has the effect of a euphoric
stimulant; "in Yemen kat is used daily by 85% of adults"
[syn: kat, khat, qat, quat, cat, Arabian tea,
African tea]
5: a whip with nine knotted cords; "British sailors feared the
cat" [syn: cat-o'-nine-tails, cat]
6: a large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless
metal belts; frequently used for moving earth in construction
and farm work [syn: Caterpillar, cat]
7: any of several large cats typically able to roar and living
in the wild [syn: big cat, cat]
8: a method of examining body organs by scanning them with X
rays and using a computer to construct a series of cross-
sectional scans along a single axis [syn: computerized
tomography}, computed tomography, CT, computerized axial
tomography}, computed axial tomography, CAT]
v 1: beat with a cat-o'-nine-tails
2: eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth; "After
drinking too much, the students vomited"; "He purged
continuously"; "The patient regurgitated the food we gave him
last night" [syn: vomit, vomit up, purge, cast,
sick, cat, be sick, disgorge, regorge, retch,
puke, barf, spew, spue, chuck, upchuck, honk,
regurgitate, throw up] [ant: keep down]
cat
O.E. (c.700), from W.Gmc. (c.400-450), from P.Gmc. *kattuz, from
L.L. cattus. The near-universal European word now, it appeared in Europe
as L. catta (Martial, c.75 C.E.), Byzantine Gk. katta (c.350) and was in
general use on the continent by c. 700, replacing L. feles. Probably
ult. Afro-Asiatic (cf. Nubian kadis, Berber kadiska, both meaning
"cat"). Ar. qitt "tomcat" may be from the same source. Cats were domestic
in Egypt from c.2000 B.C.E., but not a familiar household animal to
classical Greeks and Romans. The nine lives have been proverbial since
at least c.1562. Extended to lions, tigers, etc. 1607. As a term of
contempt for a woman, from c.1225. Slang sense of "prostitute" is from
at least 1401. Slang sense of "fellow, guy," is from 1920, originally
in U.S. Black Eng.; narrower sense of "jazz enthusiast" is recorded from
1931. Catcall first recorded 1659; catnap is from 1823; catfish is from
1620; catwalk is from 1917. Cat's-cradle is from 1768. Cat-o'-nine-tails
(1695), probably so called in reference to its "claws," was legal
instrument of punishment in British Navy until 1881. Cat's paw (1769,
but cat's foot in the same sense, 1597) refers to old folk tale in which
the monkey tricks the cat into pawing chestnuts from a fire; the monkey
gets the nuts, the cat gets a burnt paw. To rain cats and dogs (c.1652)
is probably an extension of cats and dogs as proverbial for "strife,
enmity" (1579). Cat-witted "small-minded, obstinate, and spiteful" (1673)
deserved to survive. For Cat's meow, cat's pajamas, see bee's knees.
CAT 1975, medical acronym for computerized axial tomography.
cat
̈ɪkæt See: COPY CAT, CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT, FRAIDY-CAT or FRAID-CAT or SCAREDY CAT
OY SCARED-CAT, HOLY CATS, LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, LOOK LIKE THE CAT THAT ATE THE CANARY,
PLAY CAT AND MOUSE WITH, RAIN CATS AND DOGS.
cat I. nounUsage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from
Old English catt, probably from Late Latin cattus, catta
cat Date: before 12th century 1.a. a carnivorous mammal (Felis catus) long domesticated as
a pet and for catching rats and mice b. any of a family (Felidae)
of carnivorous usually solitary and nocturnal mammals (as the domestic cat,
lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar, cougar, wildcat, lynx, and cheetah)
2. a malicious woman 3. a strong tackle used to hoist an
anchor to the cathead of a ship 4.a.catboatb.catamaran5.cat-o'-nine-tails6.catfish7.a. a player or devotee of jazz b.guyII. verb (catted; catting)
Date: 1681 intransitive verb
to search for a sexual mate — often used with aroundtransitive verb
to bring (an anchor) up to the cathead III. abbreviation1. catalog 2. catalyst
cat n. & v. --n. 1 a small soft-furred four-legged domesticated animal, Felis catus. 2 a any wild animal of the genus Felis, e.g. a lion, tiger, or leopard. b = wild cat. 3 a catlike
animal of any other species (civet cat). 4 colloq. a malicious or spiteful woman. 5 sl. a jazz enthusiast. 6 Naut. = CATHEAD. 7 = cat-o'-nine-tails. 8 a short tapered stick in the game
of tipcat. --v.tr. (also absol.) (catted, catting) Naut. raise (an anchor) from the surface of the water to the cathead. Phrases and idioms: cat-and-dog (of a relationship etc.) full of
quarrels. cat burglar a burglar who enters by climbing to an upper storey. cat flap (or door) a small swinging flap in an outer door, for a cat to pass in and out. cat-ice thin ice unsupported by
water. cat-o'-nine-tails hist. a rope whip with nine knotted lashes for flogging sailors, soldiers, or criminals. cat's cradle a child's game in which a loop of string is held between the fingers and
patterns are formed. Cat's-eye Brit. propr. one of a series of reflector studs set into a road. cat's-eye a precious stone of Sri Lanka and Malabar. cat's-foot any small plant of the genus
Antennaria, having soft woolly leaves and growing on the surface of the ground. cat's-paw 1 a person used as a tool by another. 2 a slight breeze rippling the surface of the water. cat's-tail =
reed-mace (see REED(1)). cat's whiskers (or pyjamas) sl. an excellent person or thing. let the cat out of the bag reveal a secret, esp. involuntarily. like a cat on hot bricks (or on a hot tin roof)
very agitated or agitatedly. put (or set) the cat among the pigeons cause trouble. rain cats and dogs rain very hard. Etymology: OE catt(e) f. LL cattus
cat
(cats)Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1. A cat is a furry animal that has a long tail and sharp claws. Cats are often kept
as pets.
N-COUNT
2. Cats are lions, tigers, and other wild animals in the same family.
N-COUNT
3.
see alsoCheshire cat, fat cat, wildcat
4. If you let the cat out of the bag, you tell people about something that was being
kept secret. You often do this by mistake.
PHRASE: V inflects
5. In a fight or contest, if one person plays cat and mouse, or a game of cat and
mouse, with the other, the first person tries to confuse or deceive the second in order
to defeat them.
After three hours of playing cat and mouse, they threatened to open fire on our vessel,
so we stopped...PHRASE: usu v PHR, PHR n
6. If you put the cat among the pigeons or set the cat among the pigeons, you
cause fierce argument or discussion by doing or saying something. (BRIT)
The bank is poised to put the cat among the pigeons this morning by slashing the cost
of borrowing.PHRASE: V inflects
7. If you say 'There's no room to swing a cat' or 'You can't swing a cat',
you mean that the place you are talking about is very small or crowded.
It was described as a large, luxury mobile home, but there was barely room to swing
a cat.PHRASE: with brd-neg, usu v-link PHR
cat
̈ɪkæt n. & v. --n. 1 a small soft-furred four-legged
domesticated animal, Felis catus. 2 a any wild animal of the genus Felis,
e.g. a lion, tiger, or leopard. b = wild cat. 3 a catlike animal of any other
species (civet cat). 4 colloq. a malicious or spiteful woman. 5 sl. a jazz
enthusiast. 6 Naut. = CATHEAD. 7 = cat-o'-nine-tails. 8 a short tapered stick
in the game of tipcat. --v.tr. (also absol.) (catted, catting) Naut. raise
(an anchor) from the surface of the water to the cathead. øcat-and-dog
(of a relationship etc.) full of quarrels. cat burglar a burglar who enters
by climbing to an upper storey. cat flap (or door) a small swinging flap in
an outer door, for a cat to pass in and out. cat-ice thin ice unsupported
by water. cat-o'-nine-tails hist. a rope whip with nine knotted lashes for
flogging sailors, soldiers, or criminals. cat's cradle a child's game in which
a loop of string is held between the fingers and patterns are formed. Cat's-eye
Brit. propr. one of a series of reflector studs set into a road. cat's-eye a
precious stone of Sri Lanka and Malabar. cat's-foot any small plant of the
genus Antennaria, having soft woolly leaves and growing on the surface of
the ground. cat's-paw 1 a person used as a tool by another. 2 a slight breeze
rippling the surface of the water. cat's-tail = reed-mace (see REED(1)). cat's
whiskers (or pyjamas) sl. an excellent person or thing. let the cat out of
the bag reveal a secret, esp. involuntarily. like a cat on hot bricks (or
on a hot tin roof) very agitated or agitatedly. put (or set) the cat among
the pigeons cause trouble. rain cats and dogs rain very hard. [OE catt(e)
f. LL cattus]
Cat \Cat\, n. [AS. cat; akin to D. & Dan. kat, Sw. kett, Icel.
k["o]ttr, G. katze, kater, Ir. Cat, W. cath, Armor. kaz, LL.
catus, Bisc. catua, NGr. ?, ?, Russ. & Pol. cot, Turk. kedi,
Ar. qitt; of unknown origin. CF. Ketten.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) An animal of various species of the genera
Felis and Lynx. The domestic cat is Felis domestica.
The European wild cat ({Felis catus}) is much larger than
the domestic cat. In the United States the name wild cat
is commonly applied to the bay lynx ({Lynx rufus}) See
Wild cat, and Tiger cat.
Note: The domestic cat includes many varieties named from
their place of origin or from some peculiarity; as, the
Angora cat; the Maltese cat; the Manx cat.
Note: The word cat is also used to designate other animals,
from some fancied resemblance; as, civet cat, fisher
cat, catbird, catfish shark, sea cat.
2. (Naut.)
(a) A strong vessel with a narrow stern, projecting
quarters, and deep waist. It is employed in the coal
and timber trade.
(b) A strong tackle used to draw an anchor up to the
cathead of a ship. --Totten.
3. A double tripod (for holding a plate, etc.), having six
feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever
position in is placed.
4. An old game;
(a) The game of tipcat and the implement with which it is
played. See Tipcat.
(c) A game of ball, called, according to the number of
batters, one old cat, two old cat, etc.
5. A cat o' nine tails. See below.
Angora cat, blind cat, See under Angora, Blind.
Black cat the fisher. See under Black.
Cat and dog, like a cat and dog; quarrelsome; inharmonious.
``I am sure we have lived a cat and dog life of it.''
--Coleridge.
Cat block (Naut.), a heavy iron-strapped block with a large
hook, part of the tackle used in drawing an anchor up to
the cathead.
Cat hook (Naut.), a strong hook attached to a cat block.
Cat nap, a very short sleep. [Colloq.]
Cat o' nine tails, an instrument of punishment consisting
of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a
handle; -- formerly used to flog offenders on the bare
back.
Cat's cradle, game played, esp. by children, with a string
looped on the fingers so, as to resemble small cradle. The
string is transferred from the fingers of one to those of
another, at each transfer with a change of form. See
Cratch, Cratch cradle.
To let the cat out of the bag, to tell a secret, carelessly
or willfully. [Colloq.]
Bush cat, the serval. See Serval.
cat [from `catenate' via {Unix} `cat(1)'] vt. 1. [techspeak] To spew
an entire file to the screen or some other output sink without pause
(syn. blast). 2. By extension, to dump large amounts of data at an
unprepared target or with no intention of browsing it carefully. Usage:
considered silly. Rare outside Unix sites. See also dd, BLT.
Among Unix fans, `cat(1)' is considered an excellent example of
user-interface design, because it delivers the file contents without
such verbosity as spacing or headers between the files, and because it
does not require the files to consist of lines of text, but works with
any sort of data.
Among Unix haters, `cat(1)' is considered the canonical example of
_bad_ user-interface design, because of its woefully unobvious name. It
is far more often used to blast a file to standard output than to
concatenate two files. The name `cat' for the former operation is just
as unintuitive as, say, LISP's cdr.
Of such oppositions are holy wars made.... See also UUOC.
CAT
(ailouros): The only mention of this animal is in Baruch 6:22. It is not
mentioned in the canonical Scriptures, though Bochart (Hieroz., 862) gives
"wild cats" as the equivalent of tsyim in Isa 13:21; 34:14; Jer 50:39;
Ps 74:19, where English Versions of the Bible gives "wild beasts of
the desert." Mention is, however, made of cats, cathod, in the Welsh Bible
(Isa 34:14). The only mention of the catta in classical Latin writers
is in Martial xiii.69. How the cat was regarded in Egypt is described in
Herod. ii.66 and Rawlinson's notes. In Baruch 6:22 cats are mentioned with
"bats, swallows and birds" as sitting with impunity on the images of the
heathen gods which are unable to drive them off.
See also ZOOLOGY.
J. Hutchison
cat
CAT(1) User Commands CAT(1)
NAME
cat - concatenate files and print on the standard output
SYNOPSIS
cat [OPTION] [FILE]...
DESCRIPTION
Concatenate FILE(s), or standard input, to standard output.
-A, --show-all
equivalent to -vET
-b, --number-nonblank
number nonblank output lines
-e equivalent to -vE
-E, --show-ends
display $ at end of each line
-n, --number
number all output lines
-r, --reversible
use \ to make the output reversible, implies -v
-s, --squeeze-blank
never more than one single blank line
-t equivalent to -vT
-T, --show-tabs
display TAB characters as ^I
-u (ignored)
-v, --show-nonprinting
use ^ and M- notation, except for LFD and TAB
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.
AUTHOR
Written by Torbjorn Granlund and Richard M. Stallman.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to .
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO
The full documentation for cat is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info and cat programs are properly installed at your site, the com-
mand
info coreutils cat
should give you access to the complete manual.
cat (coreutils) 5.2.1 July 2004 CAT(1)
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