Tabby meaning
Having light and dark striped or swirled markings.
A Maine coon with a tabby pattern.
adjective
A spinster.
noun
Made of or resembling watered silk.
adjective
A silk taffeta with stripes or wavy markings; watered silk.
noun
A light-colored cat with darker stripes, sometimes of another color.
noun
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Any domestic cat, esp. a female.
noun
Made of, or like, tabby.
adjective
Having dark stripes over gray or brown; brindled.
adjective
To make wavy markings in (silk, etc.)
verb
(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.
noun
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(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.
noun
(countable, archaic) An old maid or gossip.
noun
Having a wavy or watered appearance; as, a tabby waistcoat.
adjective
Brindled; diversified in color; as, a tabby cat.
adjective
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A rich watered silk.
noun
A fabric of plain weave.
noun
A prying woman; a gossip.
noun
(south atlantic us) A mixture of oyster shells, lime, sand, and water used as a building material.
noun
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Origin of tabby
- French tabis from Old French atabis from Medieval Latin attabī from Arabic ‘attābī after al-‘Attābīya , a suburb of Baghdad, Iraq
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Mid 17th circa French atabis, from Arabic attabi, ultimately from Arabic al-Attabiya, the name of a section of Baghdad, Iraq, 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.
From Wiktionary