catamount
English edit
Etymology edit
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Clipping of catamountain (“leopard, panther; ocelot; man living in the mountains”),[1] from Late Middle English catamountain,[2] from Middle English cat of the mountain (“leopard, panther”).[3]
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkætəmaʊnt/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkætəˌmaʊnt/, [-ɾə-]
- Hyphenation: cat‧a‧mount
Noun edit
catamount (plural catamounts)
- (US) A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar or puma (Puma concolor).
- 1920, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, chapter VIII, in The Understanding Heart, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark Co., →OCLC, pages 144–145:
- Uncle Charley's voice was very soft and there was a weary note in it. "Great snarlin' catamounts, but I'm tired."
- (obsolete) Synonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus)”).
Alternative forms edit
- catty-mount (Southern US, dialectal)
Related terms edit
- catawampus (possibly)
Translations edit
wild animal of the Felidae family
References edit
- ^ “catamount, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889.
- ^ “catamount, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “cat of the mountain, n.” under “cat, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
