A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Cat (1)

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 339

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 339

Cat. n.s. [katz, Teuton. chat, Fr.] A domestick animal that catches mice, commonly reckoned by naturalists the lowest order of the leonine species.

            'Twas you incens'd the rabble:
Cats, that can judge as fitly of his worth,
As I can of those mysteries, which heav'n
Will not have earth to know. Shakesp. Coriolanus.

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Shakesp. Macbeth.

A cat, as she beholds the light, draws the ball of her eye small and long, being covered over with a green skin, and dilates it at pleasure. Peacham on Drawing.

Sources: Shakespeare's Coriolanus (59) · Shakespeare's Macbeth (102) · Peacham, Henry (40)

Search for this word in: American Heritage · Cambridge · Dictionary.com · The Free Dictionary · Longman · Merriam-Webster · OneLook · Wiktionary · Wordnik

Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Cat (1)." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Last modified: October 9, 2011. http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=7760.

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