tabby

Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʕattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة (al-ʕattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب (ʕattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæb.i/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -æbi

tabby (countable and uncountable, plural tabbies)

1. (countable, uncountable) A kind of waved silk, usually called watered silk, manufactured like taffeta, but thicker and stronger. The watering is given to it by calendering.
   • 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “Showing how Poor Mrs. Macnamara Was Troubled and Haunted Too, and Opening a Budget of Gossip”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 281:

     "Ay, ay; she wore a flowered silk tabby sacque, on band days," said Toole, who had an eye and a corner in his memory for female costume, "a fine showy—I remember."

2. (uncountable) A mixture of lime with shells, gravel, or stones, in equal proportions, with an equal proportion of water. When dry, this becomes as hard as rock.
3. (countable) A brindled cat.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantle not to wake her.

4. (chiefly Australia, slang) A woman, irrespective of age, but often used for a young, attractive woman.
   • 1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 76:

     ‘The kids go for a drive in a borrowed car, park on another street between the corner lamps, and then there’s ructions because some little tabby gets up the stick.’

5. (countable, archaic) An old maid or gossip.

• (An old maid or gossip): See Thesaurus:old woman

tabby (comparative tabbier, superlative tabbiest)

1. Having a wavy or watered appearance.

   a tabby waistcoat

2. Brindled; diversified in color.

   a tabby cat

tabby (third-person singular simple present tabbies, present participle tabbying, simple past and past participle tabbied)

1. (transitive) To give a wavy or watered appearance to (a textile).

• baby T