▪ 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.
| 1530 Palsgr. 175 Larre des chatz, the caterwawyng of cattes. Ibid. 235/2 Katerwayng. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 82 In the time of their lust (commonly called cat⁓wralling) they are wilde and fierce. 1820 Scott Ivanhoe xvii, His serenade..as little regarded as the caterwauling of a cat in the gutter. 1834 Mudie 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’.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 57 My cat gothe a catterwawyng. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 156 b, They goe a catterwalling about Februarie. 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. iii. lxxxviii. 113 The Catte..is neuer in loue or goeth a catterwallyng, but in the coldest weather. 1616 Surfl. & 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.
| 1530 Palsgr. 829 A katerwavyng, agars. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 342/1 Priestes, freres, monkes and nunnes..may runne out a caterwawing. c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 275 To see old doting..priests..run a catterwawling. 1611 Cotgr., Aller à gars, (a wench) to goe a caterwawling. [See also garouage, iar, etc.] 1672 Wycherley Love in Wood ii. i, This new-fashioned cater-wauling, this midnight coursing in the Park! 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xxix. |
3. transf. Any hideous, discordant howling noise.
| 1588 Shakes. 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? 1612 Dekker If not Good Plays 1873 III. 289 Welsh harpes, Irish bag-pipes, Jewes trompes, and french kitts..their dambd catter-wralling, frighted me away. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 361 ¶1 A kind of catter-wawling..whatever the musicians themselves might think of it. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xviii. 212 There they are at it now, with their catterwauling, squealing, all together. |
4. fig. Whining.
| 1850 Clough Dipsychus ii. iv. 152 These pitiful rebellions of the flesh, These caterwaulings of the effeminate heart. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. iv. 69 Sensual caterwauling. |
▪ II. ˈcaterwauling, ppl. a.
That caterwauls.
| a 1652 Brome Covent Gard. iv. i. Wks. 1873 II. 60 This may warne you out of such caterwaling company. 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 702 Was no dispute a-foot between The Caterwauling Brethren? 1791 G. Huddesford Salmag. 145 Of Cats that grace a Caterwauling age. c 1834 tr. Uniomachia (1875) 23 Each caterwauling Tom consoles his spouse. |