catnap
/ˈkætˌnæp/
catnap noun: a brief, light sleep, usually during the daytime.
Noun
catnap (plural catnaps)
- A brief, light sleep, usually during the daytime.
- By 9 A.M., however, all but the most insomniac of the night owls were taking a catnap.1963 August 19, Charlotte Curtis, “Newport Debut Revelry Carries Over to 2d Day”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
- Besides, I reflected, Joe might easily have become a catnapper, as so many millions of other Americans had become since Sarah Perkins, during the campaign, had made it so widely known that although the incumbent President slept in a bed with the covers over him for three and sometimes four hours a...1965, The New Yorker, page 28
Verb (1)
catnap (third-person singular simple present catnaps, present participle catnapping, simple past and past participle catnapped)
- To take a catnap (short sleep or nap).
- A toddler who is still having two day sleeps will generally have one good sleep and one catnap, and a toddler who is around three years of age and getting close to dropping her day sleep will catnap.2010, Tizzie Hall, Save Our Sleep: Toddler, page 117
Verb (2)
catnap (third-person singular simple present catnaps, present participle catnapping, simple past and past participle catnapped)
- To kidnap a cat.
- When you suspect your cat's up a tree because he was chased or now locked up in the parked car because someone conspired to catnap him (he is quite the personality), what economic scales could they employ to set ransom?1990, Kalliope, page 40
- The man thought, if she refuses, I could catnap it early one Wednesday afternoon while she's dozing. Leave a bogus ransom note?2002, Joseph Ashby Porter, “A Man Wanted to Buy a Cat”, in Touch Wood: Short Stories, page 12
catnap meaning in Tamil, Kannada and Persian
catnap in Tamil
- நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும்
catnap in Kannada
- ಬೆಕ್ಕುನಿದ್ದೆ, ಚಿಕ್ಕನಿದ್ದೆ, ಮಂಪರು
catnap in Persian
- a brief, light sleep
- چاشتخواب
Examples of catnap in a sentence
- But the jury was appalled that Amber had stepped over Mort's dead body to steal his cat, and moved by Trish's dignified and heartrending testimony about her suffering when Justine was catnapped.2018, Elaine Viets, Catnapped!:
- And to top it all off, you catnapped my sweetie, my little darling...2019 October 30, Next Level Games, Luigi's Mansion 3, v1.4.0, Nintendo, level/area: Main Observation Room (15F: Master Suite):
Forms of catnap
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | catnaps |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | catnaps |
| present participle | catnapping |
| past participle | catnapped |
| past | catnapped |
Origin of catnap
A historical illustration of countryfolk and townsfolk catnapping with their pets. A farrier taking a midday catnap. From cat + nap. Named in reference to the feline habit of taking multiple, brief, and light naps throughout the day to conserve energy, rather than sleeping for one long, uninterrupted block.
From cat + -nap.
Words formed from catnap
Questions about catnap
- What does catnap mean?
- Catnap means a brief, light sleep, usually during the daytime.
- What is catnap in Tamil?
- Catnap in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும். See Catnap meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use catnap in a sentence?
- But the jury was appalled that Amber had stepped over Mort's dead body to steal his cat, and moved by Trish's dignified and heartrending testimony about her suffering when Justine was catnapped.
- What part of speech is catnap?
- Catnap can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce catnap?
- Catnap is pronounced /ˈkætˌnæp/ (US).
- What is the plural of catnap?
- The plural of catnap is catnaps.
Words near catnap in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: catnap (page history and authors); catnap (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); catnap (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-catnap.wav.
Cite this entry: “catnap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catnap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.