kitty-corner

See also: kittycorner and kitty corner

English

Etymology

Variant of cater-corner influenced by cat and kitty.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪtikɔːnə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪdiˌkɔɹnəɹ/

Adverb

kitty-corner (not comparable)

1. (Northern US, Canadian Prairies) Cater-corner: located diagonally in relation to something, especially across an intersection. [from 19th c.]
   • 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 196:

     Unit #5, kittycorner across the little street from Ennet House, is for catatonics and various vegetablish, fetal-positioned mental patients […] .

Synonyms

• catty-corner

References

• Frederic G[omes] Cassidy, editor (1985), “kitty-corner”, in Dictionary of American Regional English, volumes I (Introduction and A–C), Cambridge, Mass., London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, →ISBN.