catamount

English

WOTD – 2 March 2021

Etymology

A cougar or puma (Puma concolor; sense 1) is also called a catamount in the United States.

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkætəmaʊnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkætəˌmaʊnt/, [-ɾə-]
• Hyphenation: cat‧a‧mount

Noun

catamount (plural catamounts)

1. (US) A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar, mountain lion 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."

2. (obsolete) Synonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus)”).

Alternative forms

• catty-mount (Southern US, dialectal)

Related terms

• catawampus (possibly)

Translations

wild animal of the Felidae family

Italian: lince (it) f Korean: 들고양이 (ko) (deulgoyang'i), 살쾡이 (ko) (salkwaeng'i) Russian: дикая кошка f (dikaja koška)

References

1. “catamount, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889.
2. “catamount, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
3. “cat of the mountain, n.” under “cat, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Further reading

• cougar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia