bobcat

Etymology

It is formed from English bob + cat, with reference to the animal's short tail.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The American Heritage Dictionary and Dictionary.com take the first part as a shortening of bobtail,^[7][8] and Etymonline traces it to the noun meaning a short tail, recorded in the 1570s of a horse's tail cut short.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The North American bay lynx: 1859 in the dating of Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[3] The Collegiate gives 1864,^[9] Etymonline 1873, in a Maine context,^[6] Dictionary.com 1885–90, as an Americanism,^[8] and the OED 1888, in an article by T. Roosevelt in the Century Magazine.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The name has kept its one main sense, the wild cat also called the bay lynx;^[8][2] the OED also records transferred uses.^[2] In American scouting a bobcat is a boy who has just joined the Cub Scouts and has not yet advanced to the rank of wolf.^[3]

Timeline

• 1859 – the North American lynx, Lynx rufus.^[3] The Collegiate dates it to 1864, Etymonline to 1873 and the OED to 1888.^[9][6][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wild cat of North America (Lynx rufus), a small lynx with tufted ears, a short tail and a reddish-brown coat with dark spots; also called the bay lynx: A bobcat slipped across the trail at dusk.^{[10][3][2][8]}
2. A beginning Cub Scout who has not yet advanced to the rank of wolf.^[3]

Related words

• bob
• bobtail
• cat

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin