English▸ noun
(plural tabbies)
4 [mass noun] a type of concrete made of lime, shells, gravel, and stones, which dries very hard.
[early 19th century (originally tabby work): perhaps a different word, or from a resemblance in colour to that of a tabby cat]
5 a small moth with dark wavy markings on the forewings.
Genus Aglossa (family Pyralidae), often found in barns and warehouses, and genus Epizeuxis (family Noctuidae).
▸ adjective (of a cat) grey or brownish in colour and streaked with dark stripes:
a young tabby tomcat.
– ORIGIN late 16th century (denoting a kind of silk taffeta, originally striped, later with a watered finish: see tabby (sense 2 of the noun)): from French tabis, based on Arabic al-‘Attābiyya, the name of the quarter of Baghdad where tabby was manufactured.