pat

adj

Etymology: Clipping of patrician.

1. Upper-class, nobby.

adv

Etymology: From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-West Germanic *plattjan, from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

1. Opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.

   “Now might I do it pat”

2. Perfectly.

   “He has the routine down pat.”

3. Straight, right, exactly, precisely.

   “Wauwa Pease says of the strategic position of the Pirates in the dining room: “They have taken the table near the upper doorway so they can make a speedy exit in case their lair is raided.” Of course, the Wauwas stand pat in the middle of the dining room, having nothing to fear.”

   “His nose sitteth flat on the face of him as it were a dab of clay, and I can see pat up his nostrils a summer day’s journey into his head.”

name

Etymology: Various origins: * Borrowed from Yucatec Maya Pat. This surname is mostly found in Yucatán. * Borrowed from Khmer.

1. A surname from Khmer or Yucatec Maya.

noun

1. An Irish person.

   “I'll do it, sir, by the honor of the Pats, just take your two good looking selves into the garden, […]”

   “The stereotypes of the Irish were more negative. Irish men, the “Pats,” were seen as “always drunk, eternally fighting, lazy, and shiftless.””

verb

Etymology: From Middle English *patten, alteration (with loss of medial l) of platten, pletten (“to pat”), from Old English plættan (“to buffet, strike, slap, smack, give a sounding blow”), from Proto-West Germanic *plattjan, from Proto-Germanic *plat- (“to strike, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *blod-, *bled- (“to strike, beat”). Cognate with Middle Dutch platten, pletten (“to strike, bruise, crush, rub”), German platzen (“to split, burst, break up”), Bavarian patzen (“to pat”), Swedish plätta, pjätta (“to pat, tap”). For loss of l, compare patch for platch; pate for plate, etc. See plat.

1. To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.

   “To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.”

   “He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.”

2. To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat

   “I patted the cookie dough into shape.”

   “Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.”

3. To stroke or fondle (an animal). Compare pet.

   “Do you want to pat the cat?”

4. To gently rain.