Tomcat - Wiktionary

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  • Beginning
  • 1 English Toggle English subsection
    • 1.1 Alternative forms
    • 1.2 Etymology
    • 1.3 Noun
      • 1.3.1 Translations
    • 1.4 Verb
      • 1.4.1 Derived terms
      • 1.4.2 See also
    • 1.5 Anagrams
  • Entry
  • Discussion
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In other projects Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wiktionary, the free dictionary See also: tom cat, tom-cat, and Tom cat

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

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  • tom cat, tom-cat
  • Tom cat (archaic)

Etymology

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From Tom + cat, popularised by The Life and Adventures of a Cat (1760), by an anonymous author, in which the male cat was called Tom.

Noun

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tomcat (plural tomcats)

  1. A tom (male cat).
  2. (informal) A promiscuous man. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:promiscuous man
  3. (Southeast Asia) An insect of the order Coleoptera referring to certain species of rove beetles, particularly in the genus Paederus. Known for secreting a potent irritant, pederin, which can cause severe skin irritation and blistering when contacted.

Translations

[edit] tom see tom promiscuous man see womanizer

Verb

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tomcat (third-person singular simple present tomcats, present participle tomcatting, simple past and past participle tomcatted)

  1. (originally US, informal, of a man) To prowl for sexual gratification.
    • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 539:He would not go roaming the streets tom-catting like Mr Schick.

Derived terms

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  • tomcat around

See also

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  • caterwaul

Anagrams

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  • Cottam
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=tomcat&oldid=83177304" Categories:
  • English lemmas
  • English nouns
  • English countable nouns
  • English informal terms
  • Southeast Asian English
  • English verbs
  • American English
  • English terms with quotations
  • English eponyms
  • English pleonastic compound nouns
  • en:Domestic cats
  • en:Male animals
  • en:Male people
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