catnap
1 Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of catnap
Explanation
A catnap is a brief rest. If you need a break from studying for the big test tomorrow, you might take a quick catnap on the couch. Cats are famous sleepers, so it's not surprising that catnap was coined at some point during the 1800s. It describes a snooze that's fairly short and definitely doesn't involve climbing under the covers. You can take a catnap almost anywhere: on the bus, in front of the woodstove, or curled up in a comfortable chair like a cat! Use the word as a verb too: "I think I'll catnap for five minutes, right here in the library."
Vocabulary lists containing catnap
Festival of Sleep Day
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It was love, yes, but also wanting a catnap because Hersh was still tired from his night out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
Some marine mammals sleep while swimming and some seabirds catnap while flying, letting one half of the brain doze while the other keeps working.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 27, 2021
You can even grab a quick catnap on your break.
From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2020
“I was back in the mine,” she says of the catnap she was able to squeeze in between media interviews in her D.C. hotel room.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 12, 2015
I decide to take a little catnap while I got the chance.
From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick
Deckhand Dan Jacobson catnapped while sitting upright on a bench by the galley table.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 3, 2022
Tuna, the couple believes, was later catnapped, while Socks, a replacement for Barney, apparently ran off with a brawny stray.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 1, 2019
The rest slipped off to dinner parties or catnapped on cots in the cloakrooms.
From Time Magazine Archive
As aging legislators catnapped and clerks clogged the rear of the chamber, it became apparent that an adequate ECA appropriation and a strong draft law were essential.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the seat next to Rick, Scotty catnapped.
From The Pirates of Shan by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)
The season of beach days and barbecues, kayaking and catnapping, hammocks and homemade popsicles.
From New York Times ● May 23, 2019
The last time we were here, I was only the girlfriend and spent the entire week exhausted and catnapping until people started asking if I was sick.
From Slate ● Mar. 15, 2016
I immediately thought - could this be a "catnapping"?
From Time ● Jul. 16, 2013
I bailed water out of my boots, then spent a blissful hour catnapping as my clothes dried in the sun.
From Washington Post
The other children were spread throughout the car, catnapping, daydreaming out the window, or playing cards.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
