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hepcat

noun

Etymology

From hep + cat, from hep (“sophisticated, aware”). Compare cat (“jazz enthusiast”). Attested in the sense of “sophisticated person” from the 1920s.

  1. derived from catta
  2. derived from cattus
  3. inherited from *kattuz✻
  4. inherited from *kattu✻
  5. inherited from catt
  6. inherited from cat
  7. compounded as hepcat — “hep + cat”

Definitions

  1. A jazz performer, especially one from the 1940s and 1950s.

  2. A person associated with the jazz subculture of the 1940s and 1950s.

  3. A sophisticated person, one who is stylish.

    • Finally the door opens and out comes Alex Aums in a sharp blue suit, like a hepcat, cigarette in mouth, squinting at us narrow-eyed, “O there you are,” to me, “how’ve you been? Wont^([sic]) you come in?” indicating the office.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for hepcat. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA