| 释义 |
ˈtiger-ˌcat
a. A name for any of the feline beasts of moderate or small size which resemble the tiger in their markings or otherwise; including the Margay, Ocelot, Serval, etc. (In Zool. Society's List applied to two species: see quot. 1896.) Also fig.
1699W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 62 The Beasts of Prey that are bred in this Country are Tigre-Cats, and..Lions. The Tigre-Cat is about the bigness of a Bull-Dog. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. vii. 255 Descending to animals..still smaller, we find the Catamountain, which is the Ocelot of Mr. Buffon, or the Tiger Cat of most of those who exhibit it as a show. 1785G. Forster tr. Sparrman's Voy. Cape G.H. (1786) II. 80 An opportunity of seeing an amorous combat between two tiger-cats. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIV. 440/2 Tiger-Cats. Under this title may be classed all those lesser striped and spotted Asiatic, African, and American Cats which do not come under the well-understood denominations of Tigers, Leopards, and Panthers. 1863M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd II. v. 112, I should get nothing—but my revenge upon a tiger-cat. 1871Kingsley At Last xi, No jaguar or tiger-cat..would care to meddle with anything so exquisitely nasty. 1896List Anim. Zool. Soc. 58 Felis planiceps.., Rusty Tiger Cat. Hab. Malacca... Felis chrysothrix.., Red Tiger Cat. Hab. Gold Coast, West Africa. 1907Daily Chron. 19 Feb. 7/4 The dusky African tiger cat, a new animal about the size of a leopard. 1959Times 7 Jan. 13/5 Whether as a tiger-cat, a hard-headed business woman..her command of the character was superb. 1979P. Alexander Show me a Hero xx. 208 If she's a trained resistance girl she'll be a tiger-cat.
b. In Australasia applied to two carnivorous marsupials, Dasyurus viverrinus and D. maculatus.
1832J. Bischoff Van Diemen's Land ii. 52 The skins of the..opossum, tiger-cat, and platypus..are exported. 1852R. C. Gunn Papers & Proc. Roy. Soc. Van Diemen's L. II. 11 (Morris) Dasyurus maculatus..the Spotted Martin... ‘Tiger Cat’ of the Colonists of Tasmania,..distinguished from D. viverrinus, the ‘Native Cat’ of the Colonists, by its superior size.
c. Applied to a hybrid between the domestic cat and the wild cat (F. catus) (Cent. Dict. 1891).
d. = tabby cat s.v. tabby a. 2, esp. a tabby cat with vertical stripes in its markings.
1903F. Simpson Bk. of Cat xix. 216/1 The term ‘tiger cat’ is, I believe, often used in America, and it well describes the true type of a brown tabby. 1915Century Mag. Sept. 673/2 She has..a nice purry tiger cat asleep on a braided rug. 1939I. M. Mellen Pract. Cat Bk. i. 4 The striped tabby or tiger cat..is the most ancient type of cat known to science. 1969R. Lowell Notebk. 1967–68 52 A first tiger cat stationed on the record-player spies on a second. |