catty
See also: Catty
English
Etymology 1
From cat + -y. Compare Dutch kattig (“catty”); in sense “hostility”, see catfight.
Pronunciation
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkæti/, [ˈkʰæɾi]
Audio (RP) (file) - Rhymes: -æti
- Homophones: caddie, caddy (in some dialects)
Adjective
catty (comparative cattier, superlative cattiest)
- (informal, of a person or remark) With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset, particularly among women.
- (informal) Resembling or characteristic of a cat.
- a catty smell
Synonyms
- (spiteful): bitchy (derogatory), cattish, malicious, nasty, snide, spiteful
Related terms
- catfight
Translations
spiteful
|
See also
- (hostility, especially between women): handbags, handbags at dawn, the handbags come out, meow
Etymology 2
From Malay kati, from Tamil கட்டி (kaṭṭi).
Alternative forms
- cattee, kati
- katti, katty (both obsolete)
Noun
catty (plural catties or cattys)
- A (unit of) weight used in China, generally standardized as half a kilogram.
- 1699, Captain William Dampier, A new voyage round the world, Volume 1:
- 16 Mess, make a Tale, which here is 20 s. English, 5 Tale make a Bancal, a weight so called, and 20 Bancal make a Catty, another weight.
- 1847, Robert Montgomery Martin, China; Political, Commercial, and Social, Volume 2, James Madden (publisher), page 124:
- Transparent yellow pieces are the best; the price is from eight to fourteen dollars per catty, according to size and quality.
- 2009, Huaiyin Li, Village China Under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 94:
- To limit team members' consumption, it issued food stamps to the villagers and allowed everyone to eat one catty of rice a day.
-
Translations
a unit of weight in China
|
See also
- (Hong Kong units): chek, tsun, fan, picul, tael, mace, candareen, tsin, leung, kan, tam
Noun
catty (plural catties)
- (slang) A catapult.
- 2009, Sheldon Arensen, The Carjackers (page 43)
- “Give me your slingshot, and I'll let you have it back after school this afternoon,” she said firmly. […] I stuck the 'catty' into my back pocket and ran outside to meet the others.
- 2017, David Cooper, Christiaan Barnard: The Surgeon Who Dared
- You could also keep a tennis ball and a frog, or a catapult and a frog, but not all three together. I know because I tried it. The frog got a bit squashed between the ball and the handle of the catty.
- 2009, Sheldon Arensen, The Carjackers (page 43)
See also
- catty-corner
- catty-cornered
- catty-mount