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Tabby
Definitions
- 1 Having a wavy or watered appearance.
"a tabby waistcoat"
- 2 Brindled; diversified in color.
"a tabby cat"
- 1 having a grey or brown streak or a pattern or a patchy coloring; used especially of the patterned fur of cats wordnet
- 1 A diminutive of the female given name Tabitha.
- 2 A diminutive of the female given name Tabetha.
- 1 A kind of waved silk, usually called watered silk, manufactured like taffeta, but thicker and stronger. The watering is given to it by calendering. countable, uncountable
""Ay, ay; she wore a flowered silk tabby sacque, on band days," said Toole, who had an eye and a corner in his memory for female costume, "a fine showy—I remember.""
- 2 female cat wordnet
- 3 A concrete mixture of lime with shells, gravel, or stones, in equal proportions, with an equal proportion of water. When dry, this becomes as hard as rock. uncountable
- 4 a cat with a grey or tawny coat mottled with black wordnet
- 5 A brindled cat. countable
"A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantle not to wake her."
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- 6 A woman, irrespective of age, but often used for a young, attractive woman. Australia, countable, slang, uncountable
"‘The kids go for a drive in a borrowed car, park on another street between the corner lamps, and then there’s ructions because some little tabby gets up the stick.’"
- 7 An old maid or gossip. archaic, countable
- 1 To give a wavy or watered appearance to (a textile). transitive
Etymology
Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʕattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة (al-ʕattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب (ʕattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.
Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʕattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة (al-ʕattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب (ʕattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.
Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʕattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة (al-ʕattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب (ʕattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.
Diminutive + -y.
See also for "tabby"
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