Definition of "cat" []

• A small carnivorous mammal (Felis catus or F. domesticus) domesticated since early times as a catcher of rats and mice and as a pet and existing in several distinctive breeds and varieties. (noun)
• Any of various other carnivorous mammals of the family Felidae, which includes the lion, tiger, leopard, and lynx. (noun)
• The fur of a domestic cat. (noun)
• Informal A woman who is regarded as spiteful. (noun)
• Slang A person, especially a man. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In a subsequent passage, "I am as melancholy as a gibb'd cat" -- we are told that _cat_ is not the domestic animal of that name, but a contraction of _catin_, a woman of the town."
• "For example, that familiar animal the cat is called in Guyenne _lou catou_ and even _lou cat_; but the word belongs to the Romance language, and is the same all through Languedoc and"
• ""To class man and the ape together, or the lion with the cat, and to say that the lion is a _cat with a mane and a long tail_ -- this were to degrade and disfigure nature instead of describing her and denominating her species.""