calico cat

American  

noun

1. a domestic cat, especially a female one, of variegated black, yellow, and white coloring.

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Etymology

Origin of calico cat

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Bingo: They were ruddy turnstones, sandpipers whose tricolor markings are sometimes compared to those of a calico cat.

From New York Times • Jun. 4, 2023

It was a fraction the size of the Zeng family house, but it was cozy and immaculate with wall-to-wall carpeting, shelves of books, most of them Christian, and a calico cat sprawled underfoot.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 8, 2019

Her picture does indeed resemble a calico cat with patches of black and orange.

From Slate • Aug. 22, 2018

There was a little calico cat that hung around the shop then.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 6, 2016

I carefully lifted Daisy Mae, my little calico cat, out of the crook of my arm and placed her at the foot of the bed and got up and opened my window.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam