tabby

plural tabbies

1. countableuncountableA kind of waved silk, usually called watered silk, manufactured like taffeta, but thicker and stronger. The watering is given to it by calendering.

   "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."

   1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “Showing how Poor Mrs. Macnamara Was Troubled and Haunted Too, and Opening a Budget of Gossip”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 281

2. uncountableA concrete 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. countableA brindled cat.

   A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantle not to wake her.

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 5]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC

4. AustraliacountableslanguncountableA woman, irrespective of age, but often used for a young, attractive woman.

   ‘The kids go for a drive in a borrowed car, park on another street between the corner lamps, and then there’s ructions because some little tabby gets up the stick.’

   1982, Paul Radley, My Blue-Checker Corker and Me, Sydney: Fontana/Collins, page 76

5. archaiccountableAn old maid or gossip.

   Synonyms: old woman

comparative tabbier · superlative tabbiest

1. Having a wavy or watered appearance.

   a tabby waistcoat

2. Brindled; diversified in color.

   a tabby cat

present singular third person tabbies · participle present tabbying · participle past tabbied · past tabbied

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

1. A diminutive of the female given name Tabitha.
2. A diminutive of the female given name Tabetha.