cat's eye

See also: catseye and cat's-eye

English

Alternative forms

• cat's-eye
• catseye

Etymology

An allusion to the way a cat's eyes will appear to glow when illuminated in the dark. In mineralogy, a calque of French œil de chat.

Noun

Cat's eyes (road markings)

Cat's eyes (marbles)

cat's eye (countable and uncountable, plural cats' eyes or cat's eyes)

1. (countable, British, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, usually in the plural) A retroreflective device placed on a road surface as a marking that can be seen even at night.
2. (countable) A glass marble with elongated colourful inclusions running through its axis.

   Synonym: cat-eye

3. A gemstone exhibiting chatoyancy.
4. (mineralogy) Cymophane (translucent yellow chatoyant chrysoberyl).
5. (countable, New Zealand) A sea snail, Lunella smaragda
6. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cat,‎ eye.; the eye of a cat.

Translations

retroreflective device placed on a road surface

• Bulgarian: котешко око n (koteško oko)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貓眼／猫眼 (zh) (māoyǎn)

• Dutch: kattenoog (nl)
• Finnish: tienpintaheijastin
• French: œil de chat (fr) m
• Galician: ollo de gato m
• German: Katzenauge (de) f
• Irish: súile cait
• Italian: catadiottro m, catarifrangente (it) m
• Japanese: チャッターバー (chattā bā)
• Malay: pemantul cahaya
• Portuguese: olho de gato m, tachão (pt) m, tartaruga (pt) f
• Russian: катафо́т (ru) m (katafót)
• Swedish: kattöga (sv) n
• Thai: ตาแมว (dtaa-mɛɛo)

glass marble with elongated inclusions

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 貓眼／猫眼 (zh) (māoyǎn)

• Finnish: lasikuula
• Russian: коша́чий глаз (ru) m (košáčij glaz)

cymophane — see cymophane

Anagrams

• cat-eyes