alley cat

Thân thiện

A stray alley cat naps in a sunny patch between two brick buildings.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A homeless cat: An alley cat is a domestic cat that lives outdoors and does not have a permanent home or owner, often found in urban areas like alleys.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • We leave food out for the friendly alley cat that visits our backyard.
  • The city has a program to spay and neuter alley cats to control the population.

Advanced Usage

• Used metaphorically to describe a person with a tough, independent, or wandering nature:
  • After years of traveling alone, he lived like an alley cat, resourceful and unattached.

Variants and Related Words

• Stray cat (n): A synonym for a homeless or ownerless cat.
• Feral cat (n): A domestic cat that has reverted to a wild state, often born in the wild and not socialized to humans. (Note: While all feral cats are stray, not all alley cats are completely feral; some may be semi-socialized.)

Synonyms

• Stray cat
• Street cat

Related Idioms

• To have nine lives like an alley cat: To be very resilient and survive many dangerous situations.
  • He survived another accident; he must have nine lives like an alley cat.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a homeless cat