catamountain

catamountain

English

Etymology

From Late Middle English catamountain,[1] from Middle English cat of the mountain (“leopard, panther”).[2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kætəˈmaʊntɪn/, /-t(ə)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kætəˈmaʊnt(ə)n/, [-ɾə-]
• Hyphenation: cat‧a‧mount‧ain

Noun

catamountain (plural catamountains)

1. (also attributively) A leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus); also, an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis).

   (leopard, panther): Synonym: catamount

   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], page 16, column 1:

     Goe, charge my Goblins that they grinde their ioynts / With dry Convultions, ſhorten vp their ſinewes / With aged Cramps, & more pinch-ſpotted make them, / Than Pard, or Cat o' Mountaine.

2. (by extension) A man living in the mountains.

Alternative forms

• cat o' mountain

Translations

leopard, panther — see leopard,‎ panther

ocelot — see ocelot

man living in the mountains

References

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

Further reading

• leopard on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ocelot on Wikipedia.Wikipedia