tabby

[ tab-ee ]

See synonyms for: tabby tabbier tabbiest on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural tab·bies.

a cat with a striped or brindled coat.
a domestic cat, especially a female one.

a spinster.
a spiteful female gossip or tattler.
plain weave.
a watered silk fabric, or any other watered material, as moreen.

adjective

striped or brindled.
made of or resembling tabby.

verb (used with object),tab·bied, tab·by·ing.

to give a wavy or watered appearance to, as silk.

Origin of tabby

First recorded in 1630–40; back formation from French tabis (taken as plural), Middle French (a)tabis “silk cloth,” from Medieval Latin attābi, from Arabic ʿattābī, derivative of (al) ʿAttābīyah, quarter of Baghdad where the silk was first made, literally, “the quarter of (Prince) ʿAttāb”

Words Nearby tabby

Other definitions for tabby (2 of 2)

tabby²

[ tab-ee ]

noun

(in the southeastern United States) a building material composed of ground oyster shells, lime, and sand, mixed with salt water.

Origin of tabby

An Americanism dating back to 1765–75; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Gullah tabi, from a West African language

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tabby in a sentence

An image might be labeled “tabby cat” or “tiger cat,” for example, to “train” an artificial neural network to correctly distinguish a tabby from a tiger.
Self-Taught AI Shows Similarities to How the Brain Works | Anil Ananthaswamy | August 11, 2022 | Quanta Magazine
Geneticists recently discovered a gene in domesticated cats that triggers changes in fetal cat development, resulting in those trademark feline tabby stripes.
We finally know what turns cats into tabbies | Hannah Seo | September 8, 2021 | Popular-Science
But in the book, Father Carmine just has one unhealthy tabby cat.
What's Real in The Rite | Seth Colter Walls | January 31, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Some old tabby of a chaperon saw me there and came and told my grandmother.
Quin | Alice Hegan Rice
Poor tabby became so lame that she was at length obliged to leave us.
Emily Bront | A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances) Robinson

All the cats kept at this establishment, and there are several, are of the red tabby colour, and therefore most likely all males.
Our Cats and All About Them | Harrison Weir
The colour, however, that I now refer to is often called the silver tabby, for want of a better name.
Our Cats and All About Them | Harrison Weir
Next kin to it is the very light-gray tabby, with almost the same hue, if not quite so light-gray markings.
Our Cats and All About Them | Harrison Weir

British Dictionary definitions for tabby (1 of 2)

tabby¹

/ (ˈtæbɪ) /

noun

a fabric with a watered pattern, esp silk or taffeta

Origin of tabby

C17: from Old French tabis silk cloth, from Arabic al-`attabiya, literally: the quarter of (Prince) `Attab, the part of Baghdad where the fabric was first made

British Dictionary definitions for tabby (2 of 2)

tabby²

/ (ˈtæbɪ) /

adjective

(esp of cats) brindled with dark stripes or wavy markings on a lighter background
having a wavy or striped pattern, particularly in colours of grey and brown

nounplural -bies

a tabby cat
any female domestic cat

British informal a gossiping old woman
Australian slang any girl or woman

Origin of tabby

C17: from Tabby, pet form of the girl's name Tabitha, probably influenced by tabby 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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