cat
Definitions
General English
Computing
- noun (written as CAT)the use of a computer to test equipment or programs to find any faults.
- acronym forcomputer-assisted testing (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputer-assisted training (written as CAT)
Electronics
- (written as CAT)Acronym for computerized axial tomography, computed axial tomography, computer axial tomography, computer-aided tomography, and computer-assisted tomography.
- (written as CAT)Acronym for computer-aided teaching, or computer-assisted teaching.
- (written as CAT)Acronym for computer-assisted training, or computer-aided training.
- (written as CAT)Acronym for computer-aided testing, or computer-assisted testing.
- acronym forcomputer-aided teaching (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputer-aided tomography (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputed axial tomography (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputer-assisted tomography (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputer-assisted translation (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputer axial tomography (written as CAT)
- acronym forcomputerized axial tomography (written as CAT)
- The use of computers for performing tests. May be used, for instance, to evaluate a solid model prepared by a CAD program. Its acronym is CAT. Also called computer-aided testing.
- The use of computers for training and education. Such learning may take place at a workplace, a library, an educational institution, or the home. These methods usually make extensive use of graphics, and may cover practically any educational or occupational discipline. Its acronym is CAT. Also called computer-aided training, or computer-based training.
Slang
- noun a person. In the parlance of beatniks, hipsters, etc. Deriving from black musicians’ argot, cat was an approving form for a fellow (almost always male – females were chicks). The word is still in use, unself-consciously among American blacks and jazz aficionados, and self-consciously in hip circles in Britain and Australia.
- noun a spiteful woman. This sense is now so widespread as to be a colloquialism rather than true slang. It is probably derived from ‘catty’ rather than vice versa, although cat meant a prostitute until the end of the 19th century.
- noun a passive male homosexual. This sense of the word probably, although not certainly, originated as an abbreviation of catamite.
Accounting
- acronym forcertified accounting technician (written as CAT)
- noun a person who has passed the first stage course of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Agriculture
- acronym forCentre for Alternative Technology (written as CAT)
- noun an association that advises on sustainable and environmentally sound methods in technological development.
Medical
- acronym forcomputerised axial tomography (written as CAT)
- noun a system of examining the body in which a narrow X-ray beam, guided by a computer, photographs a thin section of the body or of an organ from several angles, using the computer to build up an image of the section.
General Science
- acronym forcomputerised tomography (written as CAT)
- noun turbulence encountered in the atmosphere where no cloud is present
- noun a system for building up a three-dimensional image of the organs inside the body, using a scanning device that takes a number of X-ray photographs at slightly different angles as the scanner rotates
Aviation
- acronym forclear air turbulence (written as CAT)
- noun turbulence encountered in air where no cloud is present
Origin & History of “cat”
The word cat seems to have appeared on the European scene, in the form of Latin catta or cattus, around 1000 ad (the previous Latin word was fēlēs, source of English feline). No one is completely sure where it came from (although given the domestic cat’s origins in Egypt, it is likely to have been an Egyptian word), but it soon spread north and west through Europe. The Latin word reached English via Germanic *kattuz, later backed up by Anglo-Norman cat, a variant of Old French chat.
