catnip
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Compound of cat + nep, nip (“catnip”), from Middle English nep, from Old English nepte, from Proto-West Germanic *nepetā, from Latin nepeta (“catnip”). Compare earlier catmint (“catnip”), from Middle English catt mynte, which very likely existed in Old English (as *cattes minte) as well.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]catnip (countable and uncountable, plural catnips)
- Any of the about 250 species of flowering plant of the genus Nepeta, family Lamiaceae, certain of which are said to have medicinal qualities.
- Nepeta cataria and Nepeta grandiflora (and perhaps other species), which are well-known for causing an apparently harmless pheromone-based intoxication among certain cats.
- Coordinate term: silver vine
- Some cats go bonkers over catnip; others ignore it.
- 2021 January 20, Sofia Moutinho, “Why cats are crazy for catnip”, in Science[1], :
- But exactly how catnip—and a substitute, known as silver vine—produce this feline high has long been a mystery. Now, a study suggests the key intoxicating chemicals in the plants activate cats’ opioid systems much like heroin and morphine do in people.
- (figurative) Something that causes excitement or interest.
- 2015 April 2, James Somers, “Toolkits for the Mind”, in MIT Technology Review[2]:
- The language’s[OCaml's] rigor is like catnip to some people, though, giving Jane Street an unusual advantage in the tight hiring market for programmers.
- 2016 October 24, Owen Gibson, “Is the unthinkable happening – are people finally switching the football off?”, in The Guardian[3], London:
- Since Rupert Murdoch famously bet the farm on Premier League football to rescue Sky TV in 1991, it has been the catnip that has underpinned subscriber loyalty and, even in a far more complicated media landscape, is seen as so vital as to be worth almost any price.
- 2017 May 31, David Z. Morris, “The Rise of Cryptocurrency Ponzi Schemes”, in The Atlantic[4]:
- Unlike IPOs, however, ICOs are catnip for scammers.
- 2019 September 14, Elizabeth Paton, “A Fashion/Food Blowout in the Shadow of Brexit”, in New York Times[5]:
- This hot new Shoreditch trattoria already is catnip for the style set.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]plant of the genus Nepeta
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specific species which causes intoxication among cats
something that causes excitement or interest
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Further reading
[edit]- catnip on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Nepeta on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- “catnip”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
[edit]Spanish
[edit]Noun
[edit]catnip m (plural catnips)
- catnip
- Synonyms: nébeda, menta de gato
This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them! |
Categories:
- English compound terms
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Nepetinae subtribe plants
- en:Cats
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Mint family plants