Link Centre Dictionary

caterwaul

ca·ter·waul

UK/ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl/ US/ˈkæt.ɚ.wɔl/ uncommon
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

the yowling sound made by a cat in heat

verb

1.

utter shrieks, as of cats

Synonyms

Origin

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).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.