pat1
/pat
/- I quickly patted down my pockets and, finding nothing, I frantically checked the pavement around me.
- If the baby stops breathing, a nurse will stimulate the baby to start breathing by patting him or touching the soles of his feet.
- He patted me quickly on the back then scuttled off down the far end of the cat walk.
Synonyms
- Josh pats his waist to draw attention to the belt securely surrounding it.
- He pointed to a vacant bench and sat down, patting the space beside him to indicate where I should be.
- Chloe pulled the bench out from under the piano and sat down, patting the space beside her.
- Press chocolate in the shape, lightly pat on top to push in every groove of the mould.
- Straw had to be cut, trimmed and tied as a shaker for the holy water, stick butter patted into shapes and all the foodstuff bought for the breakfast.
- Summer said anxiously, patting her straight blond hair into place and batting her eyes rapidly.
- He gave her a quick kiss and a quick pat on my shoulder before he left, leaving Crystal and I staring across the table at each other.
- Desa gave him a friendly pat on the arm, then rejoined her ‘friend’ in the back of the group.
- Scotty gives Johnny a friendly pat on the arm before leaving the room.
Synonyms
- A pat of butter was melted in the pan, sufficient in quantity to thoroughly lubricate the whole of its surface, and leave a coating of moisture about an eighth of an inch deep over all.
- Put a pat of butter on each slice of bread (one slice per person).
- We were bought a complimentary plate of various breads to share, with a pat of butter and a little bowl of the most beautiful looking, vibrant orange marmalade.
Synonyms
Phrases
a pat on the back
pat someone on the back
pat someone down
- At the reception station, a tall young guard took my photo, scanned my index fingerprints, and patted me down.
- They made me take off my boots and patted me down.
Origin
Late Middle English (as a noun denoting a blow with something flat): probably imitative. The verb dates from the mid 16th century.
First recorded for a blow with something flat, pat is probably imitative of the noise. The late 16th-century pat meaning ‘readily’ and in phrases such as to have off pat, ‘to have memorized perfectly’, were probably originally the same word. In early use it often appears as to hit pat, as if with the hand. In the early 20th-century Australian expression on your pat, ‘on your own’, pat is a shortening of rhyming slang Pat Malone, although there is no record of a particular person referred to. The English mid 20th-century equivalent, on your tod, however, comes from the name of the American jockey Tod Sloan (1874–1933). One sense of patter (early 17th century) developed from pat. The patter of little feet, is from Longfellow's ‘The Children's Hour’ (1860) ‘I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And the voices soft and sweet.’ See also patter
Rhymes
pat2
/pat/- All you have are pat answers and glib retorts that turn out, on ten seconds' worth of thought, to be mindless platitudes.
- There are no glib, pat answers that will provide comfort to people of faith in the face of such an overwhelming, needless tragedy, says Christian.
- The reason this makes me want to wash my hands of humanity forever, even though I'm sure the person that says it means no harm by spouting this kind of pat answer.
Synonyms
Synonyms
Phrases
have something off (or down) pat
stand pat
Derivatives
patly
- The Scooby-Doo ending disappoints when it is delivered too patly, when the information comes too easily, when the proper foundation has not been laid.
- Ten minutes later, Collateral has been patly wrapped up and you're staring at the credits, feeling a bit disappointed.
- Many of the survivors are more thinly drawn than their abusers, and some patly written scenes necessary to move the story along clearly take more dramatic license with reality than you wish they would.
patness
- It is not that we need any sort of patness, and there is much to be said for stories that are not tied up too neatly, but occasionally one encounters an almost wilful irresolution.
- And the outcome doesn't quite work - wobbly credibility giving way to patness.
- I enjoyed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, but the minor weaknesses in those films - their occasional obviousness, patness, and preachiness - blossom into the defining characteristics of The Majestic.
Origin
Late 16th century: related to pat1; apparently originally symbolic: a frequently found early use was hit pat (i.e. hit as if with flat blow).
Pat3
/pat/Origin
Early 19th century: abbreviation of the male given name Patrick.