catwalk

Etymology

It is formed from English cat + walk,^[2][3][4] partly from the genitive, as cat's walk.^[2] Etymonline explains it by a passage so narrow that one has to cross it as a cat walks.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A path or trail made for trapping martens or lynxes: 1778, in G. Cartwright's journal of his life on the coast of Labrador; this sense is obsolete.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a narrow or precarious passage or walkway, is recorded from 1845, in a work by J. H. Ingraham;^[2][5] the 1989 edition of the OED had dated the word only to 1885,^[6] Etymonline gives 1874^[3] and Dictionary.com 1880–85.^[4] Etymonline notes that it was used at first especially of ships and of theatre backstages;^[3] the OED names footways on airships and boats and high walkways in theatres and factories,^[2] and Canadian English used it for the walkway along the roof of a boxcar.^[7][5] The fashion sense, the platform along which models show clothes, appears in 1934 in a Tampa newspaper,^[2] by 1942 according to Etymonline.^[3] Two other 19th-century senses died out: a short walk back and forth (1867–70) and a small part of a garden (1872–1907).^[2]

Timeline

• 1778 – a trail prepared for trapping martens or lynxes (obsolete).^[2]
• 1845 – a narrow walkway, as on a ship or above a stage.^[2][5]
• 1867 – a short walk back and forth (obsolete by 1870).^[2]
• 1872 – a small section of a garden (obsolete by 1907).^[2]
• 1934 – the walkway on which models display clothes.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow, usually raised walkway giving access to places otherwise hard to reach, as along a bridge, above a stage or engine room, or over the deck of a ship: The technician crossed the catwalk above the stage to fix a spotlight.^[5][2][1]
2. A long narrow platform along which models walk to show clothes at a fashion show; a runway.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• cat
• walk

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Dollinger, Stefan, ed., A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 3rd ed. (online), Vancouver: University of British Columbia, dchp.arts.ubc.ca