Japan cat

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

Japan cat (plural Japan cats)

1. (dated) A toast rack (“rack for holding toasted bread”).
   • 1853, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XI, in “My Novel”; Or Varieties in English Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 59:

     ["I]t was only last Christmas that I bought my Japan cat. / "Dear me," said Miss Jemima; "a Japan cat! that must be very curious. What sort of a creature is it?" / "Don't you know? Bless me, a thing with three legs, and holds toast! [...]"