cat

Meanings

1. A small furry animal kept as a pet or for catching mice.
2. A wild animal of the cat family, such as a lion or a tiger.

Example sentences

• "Our cat sleeps on my bed every night."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "The cat jumped onto the table."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

• "A lion is a big cat that lives in Africa."

  Level A2, Meaning 2

• "She has two cats, one black and one white."

  Level A1, Meaning 1

Synonyms and antonyms

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• kitten : A kitten is a young cat. A cat can be of any age.

Word family and forms

Forms: cats

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "cat".

• a pet cat
• a black cat
• feed the cat
• a stray cat
• cat food
• the cat purrs

Idioms and phrases

let the cat out of the bag

To tell a secret without meaning to.

"He let the cat out of the bag about the surprise party."

raining cats and dogs

Raining very heavily.

"Take an umbrella, it is raining cats and dogs."

curiosity killed the cat

A warning that asking too many questions can get you into trouble.

"Stop asking about the gift, curiosity killed the cat."

Origin

Cat goes back to Old English catt, which probably came from a late Latin word cattus for the house cat.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Usage notes

Baby cats are called kittens, and a group of cats is sometimes called a clowder.

How to remember it

C is for claws: c-a-t, with claws and a tail.

Test yourself

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