catamount

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English

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WOTD – 2 March 2021

Etymology

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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

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Noun

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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

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “catamount, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, 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

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