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Cat vs Pretty - What's the difference?

cat | pretty |

In lang=en terms the difference between cat and pretty

is that cat is a piece of heavy machinery, such as a backhoe, of the Caterpillar brand while pretty is excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).

As nouns the difference between cat and pretty

is that cat is an animal of the family Felidae while pretty is something that is pretty.

As verbs the difference between cat and pretty

is that cat is to hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead while pretty is to make pretty; to beautify.

As adjectives the difference between cat and pretty

is that cat is terrible, disastrous while pretty is cunning; clever, skilful.

As a proper noun Cat

is a diminutive of the female given name Catherine.

As an acronym CAT

is centre for Alternative Technology.

As an adverb pretty is

somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.

cat

English

(wikipedia cat)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) , (etyl) (m).

Noun

(en noun)
  • An animal of the family Felidae :
  • *2011 , Karl Kruszelnicki, Brain Food (ISBN 1466828129), page 53:
  • *:Mammals need two genes to make the taste receptor for sugar. Studies in various cats (tigers, cheetahs and domestic cats) showed that one of these genes has mutated and no longer works.
  • #A domesticated subspecies (Felis silvestris catus ) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet.
  • #*
  • #*:At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat —in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
  • #Any similar animal of the family Felidae, which includes lions, tigers, bobcats, etc.
  • A catfish.
  • *1913 , (Willa Cather), :
  • *:She missed the fish diet of her own country, and twice every summer she sent the boys to the river, twenty miles to the southward, to fish for channel cat .
  • A person.
  • #(lb) A spiteful or angry woman.
  • #An enthusiast or player of jazz.
  • #*2008 , (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), "Hold on to Yourself":
  • #*:I turn on the radio / There's some cat on the saxophone / Laying down a litany of excuses
  • #(lb) A person (usually male).
  • #(lb) A prostitute.
  • (lb) A strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship.
  • (Short form of) cat-o'-nine-tails.
  • *1839 , testimony by , recorded in the Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York (Assembly No. 335), page 44:
  • *:he used this '''cat''' on one other man, and then destroyed the ' cat wound with wire.
  • (lb) Any of a variety of earth-moving machines. (from their manufacturer )
  • (lb) A sturdy merchant sailing vessel (now only in "catboat").
  • The game of "trap and ball" (also called "cat and dog").
  • #The trap of the game of "trap and ball".
  • A vagina, a vulva; the female external genitalia.
  • *1969 , Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life (Holloway House Publishing):
  • *:"What the hell, so this broad's got a prematurely-gray cat ."
  • *2005 , Carolyn Chambers Sanders, Sins & Secrets (Hachette Digital):
  • *:As she came up, she tried to put her cat in his face for some licking.
  • *2007 , Franklin White, Money for Good (Simon and Schuster), page 64:
  • *:I had a notion to walk over to her, rip her apron off, sling her housecoat open and put my finger inside her cat to see if she was wet or freshly fucked because the dream I had earlier was beginning to really annoy me.
  • A double tripod (for holding a plate, etc.) with six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever position it is placed.
  • Synonyms
    * ) * (any member of the family Felidae) felid * feline cat, a feline * pantherine cat, a pantherine * panther (i.e. tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard), (narrow sense) panther (i.e. black panther) * , "saber-toothed cat" (saber-tooth) * (domestic species) puss, pussy, malkin, kitty, pussy-cat, grimalkin * (man) bloke (qualifier), chap (British), cove (UK), dude, fellow, fella, guy * (spiteful woman) bitch * See also * See also
    Hyponyms
    * (domestic species) housecat, malkin, kitten, mouser, tomcat
    Derived terms
    * a cat may look at a king * all cats are grey in the dark, all cats are grey by night * alley cat * African golden cat * Andean cat * Asiatic golden cat * bay cat * black-footed cat * bobcat * barn cat * Burmese cat, Burmese * cat and mouse * cat box * cat food * cat that ate the canary, cat that swallowed the canary * cat in the meal-tub * cat in the sack * catbird * cat-block * cat-burglar * catcall * cat-eyed * caterwaul * catfish * cat-flap * cat-footed * cat got someone's tongue, cat got your tongue? * catgut * cat-harpin * cathead, cat-head * cat-house * cat-ice * catkin * cat-lap * cat-lick * catlike * catling * cat litter * catloaf * catly * catmint * cat-nap, cat nap, catnap * catnip * cat-o'-nine-tails * cat's cradle * cat's eye * cat's meat * cat's meow * cat's pajamas, the cat's pyjamas * cat's paw * cat scratch fever * cat state * cat's-tail * cat's whisker * cat's whiskers * cattish * catshit * cat-trap * catty * Caturday * catwalk, cat-walk * cat-witted * Chinese desert cat * copycat * curiosity killed the cat * domestic cat * fat cat * feral cat * fight like cats and dogs * fishing cat * flat-headed cat * Geoffroy's cat * housecat * it would make a cat laugh * jungle cat * lead a cat-and-dog life * leopard cat * let the cat out of the bag * like a cat in a strange garret * like a cat on hot bricks * like a cat on a hot tin roof * like herding cats * like the cat that got the cream * little spotted cat * lolcat * Maine Coon cat, Maine Coon * Manx cat, Manx * marbled cat * native cat * not enough room to swing a cat * Pallas cat * pampas cat * Persian cat, Persian * rain cats and dogs * reduced cat * Russian Blue cat, Russian Blue * rusty-spotted cat * sand cat * scaredy-cat * * Siamese cat, Siamese * spokescat * tabby cat, tabby * there's more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to skin a cat * tom cat, tomcat * wait for the cat to jump * wildcat, wild cat * when the cat's away the mice will play
    See also
    * Burmese * feline * kitten, kitty * Manx * Maine Coon * meow * mog, moggie, moggy * miaow * nine lives * Persian * Russian Blue * * Siamese * tabby

    Verb

    (catt)
  • (nautical) To hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead.
  • (nautical) To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
  • (slang) To vomit something.
  • Etymology 2

    Abbreviation of catamaran .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A catamaran.
  • Etymology 3

    Abbreviation of catenate .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) A program and command in Unix that reads one or more files and directs their content to an output device.
  • Verb

    (catt)
  • (computing) To apply the cat command to (one or more files).
  • To dump large amounts of data on (an unprepared target) usually with no intention of browsing it carefully.
  • Etymology 4

    Possibly a shortened form of catastrophic.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (Ireland, informal) terrible, disastrous.
  • The weather was cat , so they returned home early.
    Usage notes
    This usage is common in speech but rarely appears in writing.

    Etymology 5

    Shortened from methcathinone.

    Noun

    (-)
  • Etymology 6

    Shortened from catapult.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military, naval) A catapult.
  • a carrier's bow cats

    References

    pretty

    English

    Alternative forms

    * pooty (nonstandard) * purdy (nonstandard) * (l) (dialectal) * (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Cunning; clever, skilful.
  • * 1877 , George Hesekiel and Bayard Taylor, Bismarck his Authentic Biography , page 380:
  • In the end, however, it was a very pretty shot, right across the chasm; killed first fire, and the brute fell headlong into the brook [...].
  • Pleasant in sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.}}
  • * 2010 , Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian , 4 Feb 2010:
  • To escape a violent beating from sailors to whom he has sold a non-functioning car, Jerry takes his stepfamily for a holiday in a trailer park miles away, where, miraculously, young Nick meets a very pretty young woman called Sheeni, played by Portia Doubleday.
  • Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
  • * 2010 , Lia Leendertz, The Guardian , 13 Feb 2010:
  • 'Petit Posy' brassicas [...] are a cross between kale and brussels sprouts, and are really very pretty with a mild, sweet taste.
  • * 1962 , "New Life for the Liberals", Time , 28 Sep 1962:
  • Damned by the Socialists as "traitors to the working class," its leaders were decried by Tories as "faceless peddlers of politics with a pretty little trinket for every taste."
  • (dated) Moderately large; considerable.
  • *, I.2.4.vii:
  • they flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season […].
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}
  • * 2004 , "Because They're Worth it", Time , 26 Jan 04:
  • "What did you do to your hair?" The answer could be worth a pretty penny for L'Oreal.
  • (dated) Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).
  • * 1815 , (Jane Austen), Emma , Boston 1867, page 75:
  • Some people are surprised, I believe, that that the eldest was not [named after his father], but Isabella would have him named Henry, which I thought very pretty of her.
  • * 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace :
  • ‘This new fashion of introducing the candidate's children into an election contest is a pretty one,’ said Mrs. Panstreppon; ‘it takes away something from the acerbity of party warfare, and it makes an interesting experience for the children to look back on in after years.’
  • * 1926 , (Ernest Hemingway), , page 251:
  • "Oh, Jake." Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together." Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. "Yes", I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"
  • (ironic) Awkward, unpleasant.
  • * 1931 , "Done to a Turn", Time , 26 Jan 1931:
  • His sadistic self-torturings finally landed him in a pretty mess: still completely married, practically sure he was in love with Tillie, he made dishonorable proposals of marriage to two other women.

    Quotations

    * (ironic use: ) * 1995 , Les Standiford, Deal to die for , page 123: *: "[...] you can still see where the kid's face is swollen up from this talk: couple of black eyes, lip all busted up, nose over sideways," Driscoll shook his head again, "just a real pretty picture."

    Antonyms

    * ugly

    Derived terms

    * just another pretty face * not a pretty sight * not just a pretty face * PDQ * prettify * prettiness * pretty as a picture * pretty boy * pretty-faced wallaby * Pretty Good Privacy * pretty much * pretty pass * pretty penny * pretty please * Pretty Polly * pretty-pretty * pretty-spoken * purdy * sitting pretty

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Somewhat, fairly, quite; sometimes also (by meiosis) very.
  • * 1723 , Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury , V:
  • By the Sheets you have sent me to peruse, the Account you have given of her Birth and Parentage is pretty exact [...].
  • * 1859 , (Charles Darwin), The Origin of Species , I:
  • It seems pretty clear that organic beings must be exposed during several generations to the new conditions of life to cause any appreciable amount of variation [...].
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, page 539:
  • The Revolutionary decade was a pretty challenging time for business.

    Usage notes

    * When particularly stressed, the adverb (term) serves almost to diminish the adjective or adverb that it modifies, by emphasizing that there are greater levels of intensity.

    Derived terms

    * pretty much * pretty well

    Noun

    (pretties)
  • Something that is pretty.
  • "We'll stop at the knife store a look at the sharp pretties .
  • * 1939 , Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf, ''
  • I'll get you, my pretty , and your little dog, too!

    Verb

  • To make pretty; to beautify
  • * {{quote-book, 2007, Eric Knight, Lassie Come-Home citation
  • , passage=He sat on the hearth rug and began prettying the dog's coat.}}

    Derived terms

    * pretty up