cats

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of cat.

   Three cats from the shelter were adopted in a single afternoon.

   The farmer kept several cats to control mice in the grain barn.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that covers only the countable uses of the noun: house pets, farm mousers, or the wild members of the family Felidae, such as lions, lynxes and cheetahs. The meat eaten as food is uncountable and has no plural. Be careful with the figurative use for a spiteful person, especially a woman. It is derogatory and offensive in the plural as well as the singular.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of cat.

   The deckhand cats the heavy anchor up to the cathead as the vessel leaves harbor.

   Whenever the tide turns, the crew chief cats the anchor and signals the helm.

   Note

   Several unrelated verbs share this one spelling. They mean hoisting an anchor to the cathead, flogging with a cat-o'-nine-tails, prowling at night, gossiping cattily, or, in computing, running the cat command on a file. A fourth meaning, "to vomit," is archaic slang best left to period reading. Because the spelling matches the plural noun, only context shows whether a sentence means animals or an action.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2