catamount
A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar, mountain lion or puma (Puma concolor).
Noun
- A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially the cougar, mountain lion or puma (Puma concolor).
- Uncle Charley's voice was very soft and there was a weary note in it. "Great snarlin' catamounts, but I'm tired." - 1920, Peter B[ernhard] Kyne, chapter VIII, in The Understanding Heart, Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark...
- 'He would have rid that horse, too,' pa says, 'if I hadn't a stopped him. A durn spotted critter wilder than a catty-mount. A deliberate flouting of her and me.' - 1930, William Faulkner, “Darl”, in As I Lay Dying...
- Synonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus)”).
Synonyms: catamountain
Origin
Clipping of catamountain (“leopard, panther; ocelot; man living in the mountains”), from Late Middle English catamountain, from Middle English catte of the mountayne, cate of þe mounttaynne (“leopard, panther”).