tabby

tabby
\ \ [17] By a bizarre series of etymological twists and turns, the tabby cat commemorates a textile manufacturing suburb of Baghdad. This was al-‘Attābīya, named after Prince Attāb, who lived there. The cloth made there was known as ‘attābī, and the term passed via Old French atabis and modern French tabis into English as tabby. This originally denoted a sort of rich silk taffeta (‘This day … put on … my false tabby waistcoat with gold lace’ noted Samuel Pepys in his diary for 13 October 1661), but since such cloth was originally usually striped, by the 1660s the word was being applied to brindled cats.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Tabby — Sous article d un taxon biologique Chat avec un pelag …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Tabby — Tab by, a. 1. Having a wavy or watered appearance; as, a tabby waistcoat. Pepys. [1913 Webster] 2. Brindled; diversified in color; as, a tabby cat. [1913 Webster] {Tabby moth} (Zo[ o]l.), the grease moth. See under {Grease}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • tabby — (n.) 1630s, striped silk taffeta, from Fr. tabis a rich, watered silk (originally striped), from M.Fr. atabis (14c.), from Arabic attabiya, from Attabiy, a neighborhood of Baghdad where such cloth was first made, named for prince Attab of the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Tabby — Tab by, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tabbied}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Tabbying}.] To water; to cause to look wavy, by the process of calendering; to calender; as, to tabby silk, mohair, ribbon, etc. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • tabby — [tab′ē] n. pl. tabbies [Fr tabis, earlier atabis < ML attabi < Ar al ʼattābīya < ʿ attābī, the quarter of Baghdad where it was manufactured: after a prince ʼ Attāb, of the Omayyad dynasty] 1. a silk taffeta with stripes or wavy markings; …   English World dictionary

  • Tabby — Tab by, n.; pl. {Tabbies}. [F. tabis (cf. It. tab[ i], Sp. & Pg. tab[ i], LL. attabi), fr. Ar. att[=a]b[=i], properly the name of a quarter of Bagdad where it was made, the quarter being named from the prince Attab, great grandson of Omeyya. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tabby — Tabby, Tabbie englische Koseform von → Tabitha (Bedeutung: Gazelle) …   Deutsch namen

  • tabby — (izg. tȁbi) m DEFINICIJA zool. domaća mačka karakterističnog prugastog krzna, vuče porijeklo iz starog Egipta ETIMOLOGIJA engl. ← srfr. atabis: svilena tkanina ← arap. ̕attābi ← Attāb̕yah: (dosl.) četvrt Princa Ataba u Bagdadu (gdje se prvotno… …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • tabby — ► NOUN (pl. tabbies) 1) a grey or brownish cat with dark stripes. 2) silk or other fabric with a watered pattern. ORIGIN originally referring to a striped silk taffeta: from French tabis, from the Arabic name of a part of Baghdad where it was… …   English terms dictionary

  • Tabby — Getigerte Katze Getupfte Katze (Ägyptische Mau) Tabby bez …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Tabby — El gato Tabby (también llamado gato barcino en España, y en Hispanoamérica como gato atigrado) es un gato con un distintivo pelaje de rayas características y puntos. Los tabbies a menudo son erróneamente confundidos con una raza de gato. De hecho …   Wikipedia Español

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