tiger-catn.
1. A name for any of the feline beasts of moderate or small size which resemble the tiger in their markings or otherwise; including the Margay, Ocelot, Serval, etc. (In Zool. Society's List applied to two species: see quot. 1896.) Also figurative.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > [noun] > miscellaneous wild or big cats
ouncec1400
wild catc1400
catamountain?a1475
mountain cat1625
lion1630
tiger-cat1699
carcajou1760
kinkajou1760
serval1775
wood-cat1791
roof cat1872
clouded tiger1879
big cat1886
clouded leopard1910
mitlaa1925
the mind > emotion > courage > heroism > [noun] > heroine
heroine1587
heroess1612
lady errant1615
Bellona1820
shero1836
hero-woman1847
tiger-cat1863
war heroine1932
lad1935
1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. ii. 62 The Beasts of Prey that are bred in this Country, are Tigre-Cats, and..Lions. The Tigre-Cat is about the bigness of a Bull-Dog.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 255 Descending to animals..still smaller, we find the Catamountain, which is the Ocelot of Mr. Buffon, or the Tiger Cat of most of those who exhibit it as a show.
1785 G. Forster tr. A. Sparrman Voy. Cape Good Hope (1786) II. 80 An opportunity of seeing an amorous combat between two tiger-cats.
1842 Penny Cycl. XXIV. 440/2 Tiger-Cats. Under this title may be classed all those lesser striped and spotted Asiatic, African, and American Cats which do not come under the well-understood denominations of Tigers, Leopards, and Panthers.
1863 M. E. Braddon Aurora Floyd II. v. 112 I should get nothing—but my revenge upon a tiger-cat.
1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. xi. 159 No jaguar or tiger-cat..would care to meddle with anything so exquisitely nasty.
1896 List Anim. Zool. Soc. 58 Felis planiceps.., Rusty Tiger Cat. Hab. Malacca... Felis chrysothrix.., Red Tiger Cat. Hab. Gold Coast, West Africa.
1907 Daily Chron. 19 Feb. 7/4 The dusky African tiger cat, a new animal about the size of a leopard.
1959 Times 7 Jan. 13/5 Whether as a tiger-cat, a hard-headed business woman..her command of the character was superb.
1979 P. Alexander Show me Hero xx. 208 If she's a trained resistance girl she'll be a tiger-cat.
2. In Australasia applied to two carnivorous marsupials, Dasyurus viverrinus and D. maculatus.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Implacenta > subclass Marsupialia (marsupials) > [noun] > family Dasyuridae > subfamily Dasyurinae > member of genus Dasyurus
quoll1773
spotted marten1789
native cat1804
tiger-cat1832
dasyure1839
1832 J. Bischoff Sketch Hist. Van Diemen's Land ii. 52 The skins of the..opossum, tiger-cat, and platypus..are exported.
1852 Papers & Proc. Royal Soc. Van Diemen's Land 2 i.81 Dasyurus maculatus... The Spotted Martin... ‘Tiger Cat’ of the Colonists of Tasmania,..distinguished from D. viverrinus, (the ‘Native Cat’ of the Colonists), by its superior size.
3. Applied to a hybrid between the domestic cat and the wild cat ( F. catus).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > [noun] > genus Felis > felis sylvestris (wild cat) > hybrid with domestic cat
tiger-cat1891
1891 Cent. Dict. Tiger-cat, a mongrel or hybrid between the wildcat of Europe (F. catus) and the domestic cat.
4. = tabby cat at tabby adj. 2a(a), esp. a tabby cat with vertical stripes in its markings.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Felidae (feline) > felis domesticus (cat) > [noun] > miscellaneous breeds of > tabby
tiger-striped1597
tabby1774
red tabby1876
tiger-cat1903
tiger-stripe1965
1903 F. Simpson Bk. Cat xix. 216/1 The term ‘tiger cat’ is, I believe, often used in America, and it well describes the true type of a brown tabby.
1915 Cent. Mag. Sept. 673/2 She has..a nice purry tiger cat asleep on a braided rug.
1939 I. M. Mellen Pract. Cat Bk. i. 4 The striped tabby or tiger cat..is the most ancient type of cat known to science.
1969 R. Lowell Notebk. 1967–8 52 A first tiger cat stationed on the record-player spies on a second.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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