caterwaul

English

WOTD – 28 March 2008

Etymology

From Middle English caterwrawen, from cater (“cat”) + wrawen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat”), equivalent to cat +‎ waul. Compare Low German katerwaulen (“to cry like a cat”) and Middle Dutch cater (“tomcat”) (Dutch kater).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ca‧ter‧waul
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæt.ɚ.wɔl/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈkæt.ɚ.wɑl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

caterwaul (third-person singular simple present caterwauls, present participle caterwauling, simple past and past participle caterwauled)

1. (intransitive) To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise.
2. (intransitive) To have a noisy argument, like cats.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:argument

Derived terms

• caterwauler

Translations

to cry as cats

Dutch: krollen (nl) Finnish: mouruta (fi) French: feuler (fr) Hungarian: nyivákol (hu), nyávog (hu) Latin: cauriō

to have a noisy argument

French: faire du chahut

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: (please verify) faire un vrai sabbat

Noun

caterwaul (plural caterwauls)

1. A yowling.
2. A noisy quarrel.

Translations

noisy quarrel, particularly of cats

Danish: kattejammer c German: Katzenjammer (de) m Irish: catachas m

Further reading

• “caterwaul”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.