Meanings
plural catamounts · alternative catty-mount
- USA 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 Co., →OCLC, pages 144–1451 more example
'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 (Penguin Modern Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus, published 1980, →ISBN, page 81
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of catamountain (“a leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus)”).
More synonyms by meaning
nounlarge American feline resembling a lion
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishcatte of the mountayne
- Middle Englishcatamountain
- Englishcatamount
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”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
catamount. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamount
“catamount.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamount. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catamount,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamount.
Source: catamount on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.