Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A dense, cylindrical, often drooping cluster of unisexual apetalous flowers found especially in willows, birches, and oaks.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, a scaly spike of unisexual flowers, usually deciduous after flowering or fruiting, as in the willow and birch; an ament. Also called cattail.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) An ament; a species of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar, and (as to the staminate flowers) in the chestnut, oak, hickory, etc. -- so called from its resemblance to a cat's tail. See Illust. of ament.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany A type of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cylindrical spikelike inflorescence

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From obsolete Dutch katteken, kitten, diminutive of katte, cat (from its resemblance to a kitten's tail), from Germanic *kattuz.]

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Examples

  • Catten or catkin is the term I like for the felines at that age.

    Blog Find of 2009 « Barefoot in the Kitchen 2009

  • The male flower, called a catkin, looks like a full-blown erection.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The male flower, called a catkin, looks like a full-blown erection.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The male flower, called a catkin, looks like a full-blown erection.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.

    The Taunton Gazette Home RSS 2009

  • A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.

    The Taunton Gazette Home RSS 2009

  • The correct spelling of "catkin," defined as a cluster of willow tree blossoms, produced a gasp from the audience.

    unknown title 2009

  • A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.

    The Taunton Gazette Home RSS 2009

  • A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.

    The Taunton Gazette Home RSS 2009

  • A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.

    The Taunton Gazette Home RSS 2009

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