This week’s theme
A cat-alogue of words

This week’s words
pussophilist
catlap
philofelist
catnap

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAT-nap)

MEANING:

noun: A short, light sleep, typically in the daytime.
verb intr.: To sleep briefly or lightly.
verb tr.: To steal a cat.

ETYMOLOGY:

For noun and verb intr.: Alluding to cats’ frequent short, light dozes. Earliest documented use: 1801.
For verb tr.: A blend of cat + kidnap, from kid + nap, a variant of nab. Earliest documented use: 1901.

NOTES:

Cat catnapping a catnapping cat? A palindromic (by word, not by letter) sentence that results when a cat kidnaps another dozing cat.

There’s something called a dognap as well. It’s like a catnap, except taken while sitting. All naps are good, but in my experience, the sweetest of all is one taken after running a marathon.

The longest nap of all is a dirt nap, slang for dying.

USAGE:

“In Japan, catnapping in public or at work is called inemuri, and is a sign of working so hard you’re exhausted, and therefore often excused.”
Guy Kelly; The Secret to Catching 40 Winks at Work; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Jan 25, 2023.

“‘Aren’t you just the silliest boy who ever there was?’ [Judy Sugden] asked a shiny green-eyed cat. The thought of having him catnapped was alarming.”
Ariel Levy; Living-Room Leopards; The New Yorker; May 6, 2013.

See more usage examples of catnap in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: