What does gato in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word gato in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use gato in Spanish.

The word gato in Spanish means cat, jack, tick-tack-toe, cat burglar, lackey, person from Madrid, cat have one's tongue, trick, swindle, cheat, the cat is just laying around, Civet cat, civet, Civet cat, civet, there's something fishy going on, play cat and mouse, play cat and mouse, rip off, mine, bell the cat, cat's claw. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word gato

cat

nombre masculino, nombre femenino (félido doméstico)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Existe la creencia popular de que un gato siempre aterriza sobre sus patas.
A popular belief is that a cat always lands on its feet.

jack

nombre masculino (herramienta para levantar pesos) (of vehicle)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El conductor sacó el gato del maletero del coche para cambiar una rueda.
He took the jack out of the trunk of the car to change a tire.

tick-tack-toe

nombre masculino (juego: tres en raya) (US)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Elena y Pablo mataban el rato jugando gato mientras esperaban a que los llamaran.
Elena and Pablo killed time playing tick-tack-toe while they waited for them to call.

cat burglar

nombre masculino, nombre femenino (informal (ladrón sigiloso)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
La banda de ladrones contrató a un gato para sacar las joyas del museo.
The group of thieves hired a cat burglar to take the jewels from the museum.

lackey

nombre masculino, nombre femenino (MX: peyorativo (criado, sirviente) (colloquial)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
No tengo por qué obedecerte: no soy tu gato.
I don't have any reason to obey you. I'm not your lackey

person from Madrid

nombre masculino, nombre femenino (ES: coloquial (persona de Madrid)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Luisa está saliendo con un gato que conoció en Madrid.
Luisa is going out with a person from Madrid.

cat have one's tongue

expresión (coloquial (quedarse mudo)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")

trick, swindle, cheat

locución verbal (coloquial (engañar, embaucar)

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Marcos es muy ingenuo y siempre le dan gato por liebre.
Marcos is very naive and they always rip him off.

the cat is just laying around

expresión (CR, figurado (nadie colabora) (literal)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Yo aquí trabajando y allá el gato está echado.

Civet cat, civet

(vivérrido asiático) (Viverridae)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

Civet cat, civet

locución nominal masculina (mamífero vivérrido) (Viverridae)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Muchas personas son alérgicas a los gatos de algalia.
Many people are allergic to civets.

there's something fishy going on

locución verbal (coloquial (haber algo oculto)

(expression: Prepositional phrase, adverbial phrase, or other phrase or expression--for example, "behind the times," "on your own.")
Diana quedó con la sensación de que había gato encerrado tras escuchar la declaración de Jorge.
Diana felt that there was something fishy going on after hearing Jorge's statement.

play cat and mouse

locución verbal (perseguir y atrapar)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Los niños jugaban al gato y al ratón.
The kids were playing cat and mouse.

play cat and mouse

locución verbal (coloquial, figurado (eludirse y perseguirse)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
María y su exnovio todavía juegan al gato y al ratón.
Maria and her ex are still playing cat and mouse.

rip off

locución verbal (coloquial (trapacear, timar)

(phrasal verb, transitive, separable: Verb with adverb(s) or preposition(s), having special meaning, divisible--for example, "call off" [=cancel], "call the game off," "call off the game.")
Le metieron gato por liebre porque no conocía de gemas.

mine

expresión (CR, coloquial (arrebatar lo ajeno)

(interjection: Exclamation--for example, "Oh no!" "Wow!")
Gritó "Mío dijo el gato" y salió corriendo con mi bolsa.

bell the cat

locución verbal (hacer algo difícil) (confront person)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Vale, esa es la solución y ahora ¿quién le pone el cascabel al gato?
Right, so that's the solution, but who's going to bell the cat?

cat's claw

locución nominal femenina (planta medicinal) (medicinal plant)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Al parecer, la uña de gato ayuda a aliviar ciertos dolores.
Apparently, cat's claw helps to alleviate certain pains.

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Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.