Sunday Word: Caterwaul
caterwaul [kat-er-wawl]
verb:
1 make a harsh cry, make a very loud and unpleasant sound
2 protest or complain noisily
3 utter long wailing cries, as cats in rutting time.
noun:
a shrill, discordant sound, an utter shrieking as of cats
Examples:
But their critics and coaches continue to caterwaul like spoiled Little League brats. (Sally Jenkins, If colleges prioritize football during this pandemic, their true sickness will be revealed, The Washington Post, August 2020)
There are, of course, those who find Dylan's singing something of a caterwaul. Bell is rather kinder about the “voice of a generation” but he can’t deny that decades of touring have taken their toll on Dylan’s untutored pipes. (Christopher Bray, Now I'm in my sixties, this is what I wish I'd known when I was 50 , Financial Times, July 2013)
Jellicle Cats are merry and bright
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul. (T S Eliot, 'The Song of the Jellicles')
Origin:
'disagreeable howling or screeching,' like that of a cat in heat, late 14c, caterwrawen, perhaps from Low German katerwaulen 'cry like a cat,' or formed in English from cater, from Middle Dutch cater 'tomcat' + Middle English waul 'to yowl,' apparently from Old English wrag, wrah 'angry,' of uncertain origin but somehow imitative. As a noun from 1708. (Online Etymology Dictionary)
IAn angry (or amorous) cat can make a lot of noise. As long ago as the mid-1300s, English speakers were using caterwaul for the act of voicing feline passions. The cater part is, of course, connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to Middle Dutch cāter, meaning 'tomcat,' or if it is really just cat with an '-er' added. The waul is probably imitative in origin; it represents the feline howl itself. English's first caterwaul was a verb focused on feline vocalizations, but by the 1600s it was also being used for noisy people or things. By the 1700s it had become a noun naming any sound as loud and grating as a tomcat's yowl. (Merriam-Webster)