tabby
/ˈtabi
/noun (plural tabbies)
1 (also tabby cat) A grey or brownish cat mottled or streaked with dark stripes.There are tabbies and toms in white, black, grey and ginger....
- On my way home I was accosted by a mewing tabby and white shorthair cat that proceeded to follow me home.
- A grey tabby cat with white legs and wearing a red collar with a bell was found in the Hawthorn area of the town over the New Year period.
2 [mass noun] A fabric with a watered pattern, typically silk.Some of these samples are dated to the Han times; they range from lightweight tabby and gauze, some plain and some printed, to medium-textured fabrics such as damask.
3 [mass noun] A plain weave.
4 [mass noun] A type of concrete made of lime, shells, gravel, and stones, which dries very hard.
Early 19th century (originally tabby work): perhaps a different word, or from a resemblance in colour to that of a tabby cat
5A small moth with dark wavy markings on the forewings.
- Genus Aglossa (family Pyralidae), often found in barns and warehouses, and genus Epizeuxis (family Noctuidae).
adjective
(Of a cat) grey or brownish in colour and streaked with dark stripes: a young tabby tomcat...
- A small, tabby kitten walked out, sniffing the air.
- Waiting for her at the gate was the neighbour's tabby tomcat who bore the unoriginal name of Tiger.
- He then looked over towards the tabby kitten and touched it.
Origin
Late 16th century (denoting a kind of silk taffeta, originally striped, later with a watered finish: see sense 2 of the noun): from French tabis, based on Arabic al-‘Attābiyya, the name of the quarter of Baghdad where tabby was manufactured.
A striped tabby cat is said to get its name from a kind of silk which was originally striped, although later tabby was used for silk with a watered finish. The word goes back to the name of the quarter of Baghdad where the material was manufactured, al-Attābiyya.