puss
/pʊs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.03 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A coward; a wuss; someone who is unable to stand up for themselves.
Canadian usage; American usage; Countable; Slang; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Our local theatre is showing Puss in Boots."
- "Come here, puss! I've got some milk for you."
- "He then began to beat about, in the ſame Language, and in the ſame Manner, as if he had been beating for a Hare, and at laſt cried out, 'Soho! Puſs is not far off. Here's her Form, upon my Soul; I believe I may cry ſtole away.'"
- "'[…] It won't kill Puss any better for that.' / "'But, goodness gracious, what can that hare be made of?' I asked."
- "Mention a hare to Master Twyti and, although he would still go on galloping after the wretched hart which seemed to be his destiny, he would gallop with one eye over his shoulder yearning for puss."
- "So don't know! So, what are you gonna do? Sell your birthright for a little bit of puss?"
Etymology
Probably from Middle Low German pūse, pūskatte or Dutch poes (“puss, cat”, also slang for “vulva”), ultimately from a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention (compare Arabic بسة (bissa)). Akin to West Frisian poes, Low German Puus, Puuskatte, Danish pus, dialectal Swedish kattepus, Norwegian pus. Found also in several other European, North African and Asian languages; compare Romanian pisică, Persian پیشی (piši), Tamil பூசை (pūcai), Tagalog pusa and Sardinian pisittu.