felophile

English

Etymology

From Latin fēlēs +‎ -o- +‎ -phile.

Noun

felophile (plural felophiles)

1. Synonym of ailurophile
   • 1934 August 29, “The Cat and the Olive”, in Douglas Woodruff, editor, Dear Sir: A Selection of Letters to the Editor of the Times, London: Methuen & Co., published 1936, page 321:

     Sir,—In case no more experienced felophile answers Mr Blakiston’s delightful letter in your issue of last Friday, I write to say that my cat reacts with similar abandon to the gift of an olive.

   • 1989 August, Jared Diamond, “How Cats Survive Falls from New York Skyscrapers”, in Natural History, page 20, column 2:

     Feline pesematology (from the Greek pesema, for “fall”), the science of falling cats, may not strike you initially as the stuff for which Nobel Prizes are won. But it is undoubtedly of emotional importance, as any concerned felophile (cat lover) knows.

   • 2001, Jim Crace, The Devil’s Larder, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 67:

     Moreover, he will welcome the attentions of your cats. I have not dared to say before, but I am not a felophile.

   • 2011, F. Nigel Hepper, “Cat in a Bag and a Lakeland Terrier”, in Life on a Lake District Smallholding: Before and During the Second World War, →ISBN, page 75:

     In fact, Father turned into a felophile, or whatever is the term for a cat-doter.

   • 2020, New Scientist, “Dogs vs cats: The great pet showdown”, in Cats vs Dogs: Misbehaving Mammals, Intellectual Insects, Flatulent Fish and the Great Pet Showdown, John Murray, →ISBN, section 1 (Brains):

     If instead you measure brain mass as a percentage of body mass, cats win by a whisker. / Felophiles should not gloat yet.