| 释义 |
tom cat, tom-cat, n.|ˈtɒmˈkæt|
[See Tom n.1 6.
In 1760 was published an anonymous work ‘The Life and Adventures of a Cat’, which became very popular. The hero, a male or ‘ram’ cat, bore the name of Tom, and is commonly mentioned as ‘Tom the Cat’, as ‘Tybert the Catte’ is in Caxton's Reynard the Fox. Thus Tom became a favourite allusive name for a male cat (see quot. 1791 s.v. Tom n.1 6); and people said ‘this cat is a Tom’ or a ‘Tom cat’.]
A male cat.
[1760Life & Adv. of a Cat 11 Chap. iv. Tom the Cat is born of poor but honest parents. Ibid. 31 The single adventures of Tom the Cat only.] 1809Malkin Gil Blas ii. vii. ⁋27 The devil fetch that tom cat! 1825Univ. Songster (title) The Tortoiseshell Tom-cat. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xii, It's enough to make a Tom cat talk French grammar. 1881J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxvii, A cur..unexpectedly confronted by a large tomcat.
Add: Also tomcat. 2. fig. and transf. a. attrib. or as adj. Resembling a tom-cat, esp. crudely lecherous.
1899G. B. Shaw in North Amer. Rev. Aug. 260 Profligate farces and thinly sentimentalized tomcat love tales. 1978J. Sherwood Limericks of Lachasse vii. 84 Why business, dear? Why not some nasty tomcat form of pleasure?
b. A lecherous or sexually aggressive man; a womanizer. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §445/3 Philanderer,..sexpert, sharpshooter,..tomcat, town Johnny,..wolf. 1974N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond ii. 22 This was just one of those horrible..tomcats who prowl in cars. 1984‘S. Woods’ Bloody Bk. of Law 30 The chap's a bit of a tomcat by his own admission. |