Dictionary

civvy cat en · NOUN

Etymology

A clipping of civet cat.

Meanings

1. (US, regional) Originally the civet of Africa and Asia; now a skunk.
   • I ought to of known it because from the time I was five I had hunted cottontail rabbits, skunks, and civvy cats all over it and I was the only secret operative in the area, as well as the official Konawa Leader newspaper correspondent for the entire River Bend. 2000, Wesley E. Hall, The River Bend: Collected Stories & Anecdotes, Writers Club Press, page 103:
   • He's like one them Idaho civvy cats. If you try to git too close to 'im, he'll pee on you sho’s the world! 2016, Robert Willis, Barlow and Other Stories:
   • Animal with the bad odor. For the familiar black-and-white animals (Mephitis, Spilogale, etc.) that secrete musk, or worse, the most widely known word is polecat (69); but skunk (52), which is in general characteristic of the Northern part of the country, is gaining ground. A few informants use civet cat (6) and civvy cat (2.2), although some state that this means a different kind of varmint. [1962, E. Bagby Atwood, The Regional Vocabulary of Texas, University of Texas Press, pages 53-54:
   • Inclusion of exotic dishes on the bill of fare has also been announced. Soup sandwiches on pretzels, baked jack rabbit under glass, roast breast of mink, sirloin of catfish, southern fried civvy cat, prairie dog au gratin and other choice morsels will be featured daily. 1953 May 22, State Hornet, volume 5, number 29, pages 1, 4:
   • civvy-cat, n. A civet, a little striped skunk, very similar to the phoby-cat of the Southwest. [1927, V. Randolph, “More Words from the Ozarks”, in Dialect Notes, volume 5, American Dialect Society, page 473:
   • I hope it's nothing to make you smell like a civvy-cat, for I can't sit in the coach with none of them there French stinks, it poisons me alive, and so pray don't let's have no poppy-loat. 1810, Splendid Follies; or, Mistley Manor, volume 1, page 124:

Forms