Dictionary

cats' concert en · NOUN

Meanings

1. The cacophony of meows, hisses, and other vocalizations that cats make during a period of social interaction.
   • On the night in question, the whole house was awakened by a dreadful cats'-concert. Two or three of the gang of ill-bred, shabby cats that ran wild over the brick roofs of our town were sitting on the general's terrace screaming at the top of their repulsive voices. 1976, Valentin Kataev, A Mosaic of Life Or, The Magic Horn of Oberon: Memoirs of a Russian Childhood, page 180:
   • A cats' concert, usually a nocturnal event, is a discordant din, and caterwauling, from Middle English and Middle Dutch words meaning "tomcat" and "wailing," came by the 14th century to mean the ugliest of feline noises. 1989, Christine Ammer, It's Raining Cats and Dogs ... And Other Beastly Expressions, page 4:
   • The feral Siamese have been holding a cats' concert in the night, a maniacal caterwauling that sends a shiver down the spine of every vertebrate on the island, whether quick or dead. 2000, Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird, A Novel, page 68:
2. (broadly, figuratively) Any confusing or intolerable combination of voices.
   • One of the most horrible sounds imaginable is that produced by several fine voices all singing different songs. This cats' concert (as school-girls call it) results in a shocking and yet ludicrous discord, equally frightful and laughable. And yet all the performers are singing individually well. Try it. 1839, Eliza Leslie, Miss Leslie's Behaviour Book: A Guide and Manual for Ladies, page 332:
   • At first I was reminded of the days of my childhood, when for our amusement each selected his or her own tune, and then, at a given signal, all struck up at once, each maintaining his own - we called them "cats' concerts". 1877, Almira Losee, Life Sketches, Being Narrations of Scenes Occurring in the Labours of Almira Losee, page 196:

Forms

Relateds

cat's melody