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▪ I. ˈcaterwauling, vbl. n.
Forms: see prec., also 6–7 catterwaling, -wralling, (7 cat-wralling).
[f. as prec. + -ing1.]
1. The cry of cats at rutting time; their rutting or heat.
1530Palsgr. 175 Larre des chatz, the caterwawyng of cattes. Ibid. 235/2 Katerwayng. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 82 In the time of their lust (commonly called cat⁓wralling) they are wilde and fierce. 1820Scott Ivanhoe xvii, His serenade..as little regarded as the caterwauling of a cat in the gutter. 1834Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 150 Thus, if owls were established at every farm, the caterwauling of cats..would be less necessary.
b. to go a caterwauling: to go ‘after kind’.
1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 57 My cat gothe a catterwawyng. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 156 b, They goe a catterwalling about Februarie. 1582J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. iii. lxxxviii. 113 The Catte..is neuer in loue or goeth a catterwallyng, but in the coldest weather. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 194. 1737 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Cataria, When they go a Catter-wauling.
2. Going after the opposite sex; lecherous motions or pursuits.
1530Palsgr. 829 A katerwavyng, agars. 1532More Confut. Tindale Wks. 342/1 Priestes, freres, monkes and nunnes..may runne out a caterwawing. c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 275 To see old doting..priests..run a catterwawling. 1611Cotgr., Aller à gars, (a wench) to goe a caterwawling. [See also garouage, iar, etc.] 1672Wycherley Love in Wood ii. i, This new-fashioned cater-wauling, this midnight coursing in the Park! 1708Motteux Rabelais v. xxix.
3. transf. Any hideous, discordant howling noise.
1588Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 37. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iv. ii, Why, you Munkies you, what a Catter-waling do you keep? 1612Dekker If not Good Plays 1873 III. 289 Welsh harpes, Irish bag-pipes, Jewes trompes, and french kitts..their dambd catter-wralling, frighted me away. 1712Addison Spect. No. 361 ⁋1 A kind of catter-wawling..whatever the musicians themselves might think of it. 1853Kingsley Hypatia xviii. 212 There they are at it now, with their catterwauling, squealing, all together.
4. fig. Whining.
1850Clough Dipsychus ii. iv. 152 These pitiful rebellions of the flesh, These caterwaulings of the effeminate heart. 1870Huxley Lay Serm. iv. 69 Sensual caterwauling.
▪ II. ˈcaterwauling, ppl. a.
That caterwauls.
a1652Brome Covent Gard. iv. i. Wks. 1873 II. 60 This may warne you out of such caterwaling company. 1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 702 Was no dispute a-foot between The Caterwauling Brethren? 1791G. Huddesford Salmag. 145 Of Cats that grace a Caterwauling age. c1834tr. Uniomachia (1875) 23 Each caterwauling Tom consoles his spouse. |