Meaning

2 senses

  1. (intransitive)To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise.

  2. (intransitive)To have a noisy argument, like cats.

More definitions
  • utter shrieks, as of cats

Examples

2 sentences

  1. Would you stop that caterwauling?

    ruТы бы не мог прекратить этот кошачий концерт?

    CC BY · Tatoeba · fenfang557 · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. There will be a lot of infighting and caterwauling in this place in order to try to move in that direction.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · Cangarejo · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

2 languages

Origin

From Middle English caterwrawen, from cater (“cat”) + wrawen, wrawlen (“cry like a cat”),

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).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

caterwauls, caterwauling, caterwauled, caterwauled
Base formcaterwaul · to caterwaul
3rd person singularcaterwauls
Present participlecaterwauling
Past simplecaterwauled
Past participlecaterwauled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theycaterwaul
he, she, itcaterwauls

Past simpleLesson

all personscaterwauled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave caterwauled
he, she, ithas caterwauled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill caterwaul

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • utter shrieks, as of cats:yowl

Word family

1 related words
Derivedcaterwauler

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
catercaterercaterpillarcatfishcatgirlcathartic
caterwaul — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto