Tomcat - Wiktionary

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• 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

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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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