calico cat

noun

1. a domestic cat, especially a female one, of variegated black, yellow, and white coloring.

Word History and Origins

Origin of calico cat¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Bingo: They were ruddy turnstones, sandpipers whose tricolor markings are sometimes compared to those of a calico cat.

From New York Times

Edsel, the calico cat, sprawled across a reporter’s notebook, knocking the pen out of the way, and began to purr amiably.

From New York Times

Patches the calico cat went missing on the night that debris flows tore through Montecito, Calif., in January 2018, according to ASAP, an animal shelter based in nearby Santa Barbara.

From Fox News

Mitchell made some drawings of their dining room: the view from the window, a basket of apples, flowers in a glass vase, her calico cat lounging on a pillow.

From The New Yorker

It was a fraction the size of the Zeng family house, but it was cozy and immaculate with wall-to-wall carpeting, shelves of books, most of them Christian, and a calico cat sprawled underfoot.

From Los Angeles Times