tabby

Mid 17th century French tabis, from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ‎ (ʿattābiyy), ultimately from Arabic الْعَتَّابِيَّة‎ (al-ʿattābiyya), a quarter of Baghdad (named for a Prince عَتَّاب‎ (ʿattāb)) which is associated with the manufacture of a certain type of waved silk. See also taffeta, another type of silk whose name derives from the Persian تافته‎ (tâfta, “woven cloth”) and shares a similar etymological origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtæb.i/
• Rhymes: -æbi

tabby (countable and uncountable, plural tabbies)

1. (countable, uncountable) A kind of waved silk, usually called watered silk, manufactured like taffeta, but thicker and stronger. The watering is given to it by calendering.
   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

     'Ay, ay; she wore a flowered silk tabby sacque, on band days,' said Toole, who had an eye and a corner in his memory for female costume, 'a fine showy—I remember.'

2. (uncountable) A mixture of lime with shells, gravel, or stones, in equal proportions, with an equal proportion of water. When dry, this becomes as hard as rock.
3. (countable) A brindled cat.
4. (countable, archaic) An old maid or gossip.

• (An old maid or gossip): See Thesaurus:old woman

tabby (not comparable)

1. Having a wavy or watered appearance

   a tabby waistcoat

2. Brindled; diversified in color

   a tabby cat.

tabby (third-person singular simple present tabbies, present participle tabbying, simple past and past participle tabbied)

1. (transitive) To give a wavy or watered appearance to (a textile).

• baby T