(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a furry animal that has a long tail and sharp claws. Cats are often kept as pets.
N-COUNT
2.
Cats are lions, tigers, and other wild animals in the same family.
N-COUNT
3.
see also Cheshire ~ , fat ~ , wild~
4.
If you let the ~ out of the bag, you tell people about something that was being kept secret. You often do this by mistake.
PHRASE: V inflects
5.
In a fight or contest, if one person plays ~ and mouse, or a game of ~ and mouse, with the other, the first person tries to confuse or deceive the second in order to defeat them.
After three hours of playing ~ and mouse, they threatened to open fire on our vessel, so we stopped...
PHRASE: usu v PHR, PHR n
6.
If you put the ~ among the pigeons or set the ~ among the pigeons, you cause fierce argument or discussion by doing or saying something. (BRIT)
The bank is poised to put the ~ among the pigeons this morning by slashing the cost of borrowing.
PHRASE: V inflects
7.
If you say ‘There’s no room to swing a ~’ or ‘You can’t swing a ~’, you mean that the place you are talking about is very small or crowded.
It was described as a large, luxury mobile home, but there was barely room to swing a ~.
PHRASE: with brd-neg, usu v-link PHR