catnip

noun

cat·​nip ˈkat-ˌnip 

1

: a strong-scented perennial mint (Nepeta cataria) that has whorls of small pale flowers in terminal spikes and contains a substance attractive to cats

2

: something very attractive

Examples of catnip in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The idea of purgatory has always been catnip to playwrights, going back centuries. —Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press, 20 Nov. 2024

And cats generally tend to leave Christmas cactus alone because there's nothing particularly attractive about them, unlike, say a catnip plant or cat grass. —Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Oct. 2024

More than any of the wide-ranging jobs Miranda has taken on in the past five years, The Warriors, a classic yarn about underprivileged New Yorkers weathering an arduous power struggle, is catnip for the 44-year-old Pulitzer Prize–winning polymath. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 22 Oct. 2024

Why do my cats find catnip calming instead of invigorating? —Jack Gedney, The Mercury News, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

cat entry 1 + obsolete nep catnip, from Middle English, from Old English nepte, from Latin nepeta

First Known Use

1712, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

catnip

noun

cat·​nip -ˌnip 

: a strong-scented herb of the mint family that is especially attractive to cats

Medical Definition

catnip

noun

cat·​nip -ˌnip 

variants also catnep

-ˌnep, -nəp 

1

: a strong-scented mint (Nepeta cataria) that has small pale flowers in terminal spikes and contains a substance attractive to cats

called also cataria, catmint

2

: cataria sense 2