A tabby or a tabby cat is a cat whose fur has dark stripes on a lighter background.
More Synonyms of tabby
tabby in British English1
(ˈtæbɪ)
noun
a fabric with a watered pattern, esp silk or taffeta
Word origin
C17: from Old French tabis silk cloth, from Arabic al-`attabiya, literally: the quarter of (Prince) `Attab, the part of Baghdad where the fabric wasfirst made
tabby in British English2
(ˈtæbɪ)
adjective
1.
(esp of cats) brindled with dark stripes or wavy markings on a lighter background
2.
having a wavy or striped pattern, particularly in colours of grey and brown
nounWord forms: plural-bies
3.
a tabby cat
4.
any female domestic cat
5. British informal
a gossiping old woman
6. Australian slang
any girl or woman
Word origin
C17: from Tabby, pet form of the girl's name Tabitha, probably influenced by tabby1
tabby in American English1
(ˈtæbi) (nounplural -bies, verb-bied, -bying)
noun
1.
a cat with a striped or brindled coat
2.
a domestic cat, esp. a female one
3.
an unmarried woman
4.
a spiteful female gossip or tattler
5. See plain weave
6.
a watered silk fabric, or any other watered material, as moreen
adjective
7.
striped or brindled
8.
made of or resembling tabby
transitive verb
9.
to give a wavy or watered appearance to, as silk
Word origin
[1630–40; back formation from F tabis (taken as pl.), MF (a)tabis silk cloth ‹ ML attābi ‹ Ar ʻattābī, deriv. of (al-)ʻAttābīyah, quarter of Baghdad where the silk was first made, lit., the quarter of (Prince)ʻAttāb]
tabby in American English2
(ˈtæbi)
noun
(in the southeastern US)
a building material composed of ground oyster shells, lime, and sand, mixed with salt water
Word origin
[1765–75, Amer.; said to be of West African orig.]
Examples of 'tabby' in a sentence
tabby
Her sandy tabby eyed her languidly from the typewritten sheets she had elected to stretch out on.
Low, Ona MURKY SHALLOWS (2002)
Her back was tabby: from above or the back, she was a pretty tabby kitten, in grey and cream.
Doris Lessing ON CATS (2002)
A yellow tabby cat walks over Annemarie's leg and jumps off the bed.
Kingsolver, Barbara HOMELAND AND OTHER STORIES (2002)
Word lists with
tabby
fabric
(adjective)
Definition
having dark stripes or wavy markings on a lighter background
A tabby cat shot out beside her feet.
Synonyms
striped
striped wallpaper
banded
streaked
stripy
He was wearing a stripy shirt and baggy blue trousers.
brindled
a brindled cat seated on a mat
Additional synonyms
in the sense of brindled
Definition
brown or grey streaked with a darker colour
a brindled cat seated on a mat
Synonyms
streaked,
spotted,
patched,
speckled,
mottled,
tabby
in the sense of stripy
He was wearing a stripy shirt and baggy blue trousers.