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tabby

Syllabification: (tab·by)
Pronunciation: /ˈtabē/

Translate tabby | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of tabby

noun (plural tabbies)

  • 1 (also tabby cat) a cat whose fur is mottled or streaked with dark stripes.
    [ late 17th century (as tabby cat): said to be so named from its striped coloring]
  • informal any domestic cat.
  • 2a fabric with a watered pattern, typically silk.
  • 3a plain weave.
  • 4a type of concrete made of lime, shells, gravel, and stones that dries very hard.
    [ early 19th century (originally tabby work): perhaps a different word, or from a resemblance in color to that of a tabby cat]

adjective

  • (of a cat) gray or brownish in color and streaked with dark stripes.

Origin:

late 16th century (denoting a kind of silk taffeta, originally striped, later with a watered finish: tabby (sense 2 of the noun)): from French tabis, based on Arabic al-῾Attābiyya, the name of the quarter of Baghdad where tabby was manufactured

tabby in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of tabby in the British & World English dictionary