Wiktionary
n. (context US English) A tortoiseshell and white domestic cat.
WordNet
n. a cat having black and cream and yellowish markings [syn: tortoiseshell, tortoiseshell-cat]
Wikipedia
Calico cats are domestic cats with a spotted or particolored coat that is predominantly white, with patches of two other colors (often, the two other colors are orange and black). Outside North America, the pattern is more usually called tortoiseshell-and-white. In the province of Quebec, Canada, they are sometimes called chatte d'Espagne (French for '(female) cat of Spain'). Other names include brindle, tricolor cat, tobi mi-ke (Japanese for 'triple fur'), and lapjeskat (Dutch for 'patches cat'); calicoes with diluted coloration have been called calimanco or clouded tiger. Occasionally, the tri-color calico coloration is combined with a tabby patterning. This calico patched tabby is called a caliby.
" Calico" refers only to a color pattern on the fur, not to a breed. Among the breeds whose standards allow calico coloration are the Manx, American Shorthair, British Shorthair, Persian, Japanese Bobtail, Exotic Shorthair, Siberian, Turkish Van, and Turkish Angora.
Because genetic determination of coat colors in calico cats is linked to the X chromosome, calicoes are nearly always female, with one color linked to the maternal X chromosome and a second color linked to the paternal X chromosome. Because males only have one X chromosome, a male calico would have to have a rare condition where they have three sex chromosomes (two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome) in order to be calico. In addition to other symptoms caused by the condition, these male calicos are often sterile.
Usage examples of "calico cat".
Hens strutted and pecked around a patient Great Dane, and a calico cat napped on a ledge.
A calico cat rubbed itself against his boot as Lombard fumbled with his key.
As she started to get up, the black cat was joined by a slightly smaller calico cat.
The calico cat fed her young kittens as the black cat guarded them.
Her four-year-old calico cat, Pepper, kept getting in the way, rubbing against her legs, insisting upon being petted and scratched behind the ears.
In about thirty seconds a calico cat came tearing into the room and leaped up on her lap.
He was a rather forbidding figure, with a long, hard face deeply scored with vertical lines, and a head of shaggy hair patched like the coat of a calico cat with random patterns of gray, auburn and silver.
Why cant you spend the entire day sleeping on the fancy goods display like that calico cat at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary jumble sale?
His coloring resembled that of a calico cat, patches of orange, black, and white on a gray background.
Atop the kitchen work-table, a slightly built calico cat caught in the process of cleaning its paws paused to watch.
Better to live with an aging governess and a calico cat than with a handsome husband whose sentiments would never match her own.