Dictionary

catamount en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkætəˌmaʊnt/ (General-American)
• [-ɾə-] (General-American)
• /ˈkætəmaʊnt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Clipping of catamountain (“leopard, panther; ocelot; man living in the mountains”), from Late Middle English catamountain, from Middle English catte of the mountayne, cate of þe mounttaynne (“leopard, panther”).

Meanings

1. (US) A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar, mountain lion or puma (Puma concolor).
   • Uncle Charley's voice was very soft and there was a weary note in it. "Great snarlin' catamounts, but I'm tired." 1920, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, chapter VIII, in The Understanding Heart, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark Co., →OCLC, pages 144–145:
   • 'He would have rid that horse, too,' pa says, 'if I hadn't a stopped him. A durn spotted critter wilder than a catty-mount. A deliberate flouting of her and me.' 1930, William Faulkner, “Darl”, in As I Lay Dying (Penguin Modern Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus, published 1980, →ISBN, page 81:
2. (obsolete) Synonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus)”).

Forms

Relateds

catawampus

Synonyms

catamountain