Caterwaul

//ˈkæt.ə.wɔːl// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A yowling.
  2. 2
    the yowling sound made by a cat in heat wordnet
  3. 3
    A noisy quarrel.
Verb
  1. 1
    To cry as cats in heat; to make a harsh, offensive noise. intransitive
  2. 2
    utter shrieks, as of cats wordnet
  3. 3
    To have a noisy argument, like cats. intransitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
yowlbarkbattle crybawlbaybell

Etymology

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).

Related phrases

in heat

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.