coon cat

[Jonathan Lighter]

Cat people everywhere frown to discover there is no OED entry for "(Maine) coon cat," a heavy, longhaired breed popular in New England.

  Perhaps that lack can begin to be remedied:

  1898 Paul Eve Stevenson _By Way of Cape Horn_  (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott) 26: One of them is a splendid animal, a pure Maltese, whose companion is a so-called coon cat; both belong to the captain.

  JL




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