cool cat

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cool cat (plural cool cats)

1. (idiomatic) A person who performs or appreciates jazz, especially one whose style of speech and movement is relaxed and rhythmic.
   • 1966 August 5, "Jazz: Fatha Knows Best," Time (retrieved 7 Jan 2018):

     Step up and take a look at the U.S.'s latest secret weapon. A hot missile? No, a cool cat—Earl ("Fatha") Hines, jazz pianist nonpareil.

   • 2004 October 19, "Let's swing the vote," Independent (UK) (retrieved 7 Jan 2018):

     In 1964, Dizzy Gillespie ran for the US presidency on an anti-racism, pro-bebop platform. Sholto Byrnes looks back on the very brief political career of one very cool cat.

2. (idiomatic) An individual who is at ease and self-assured; one who is calm and composed in interactions with others.
   • 1971 October 31, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, "When N.Y. as a Helluva Town," New York Times (retrieved 7 Jan 2018):

     [W]e had just opened after only 10 cliff‐hanging days in Boston . . . [and] were all doing our first show. The only cool cat among us was the remarkable director, George Abbott, who had been there many times before and looked pleased, proud and relaxed.

   • 2008 August 28, Claudia Rowe, "Joy, awe and disbelief as Obama takes the nomination—and stage," Seattle Post-Intelligencer (retrieved 7 Jan 2018):

     "I've talked to a lot of young people, and they're all very excited that he's such a cool cat—not black or white or anything like that—just such a cool guy."

• Sometimes used in the expanded form one cool cat.

• beatnik
• hepcat
• hipster