English Explanatory Dictionary

roof rabbit

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. cat meat

Word forms

roof rabbit roof rabbits

Etymology

From roof + rabbit. From the common habit of cats to prowl on rooftops, and the meat being sold or passed off as rabbit. Similar formations exist in several European languages. Perhaps the earliest attestation (and eventual origin?) is Middle Low German bönhase (“cat”, literally “loft hare”), which is attested in the early 14th century (as a name and thus probably even older). More at German Bönhase and Dachhase.

Synonyms

gutter rabbit
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary