Meanings
plural catamountains · alternative cat-a-mountain · alternative cat o' mountain
- alsoattributiveA leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus); also, an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis).
Goe, charge my Goblins that they grinde their ioynts / With dry Convultions, ſhorten vp their ſinewes / With aged Cramps, & more pinch-ſpotted make them, / Than Pard, or Cat o' Mountaine.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 16, column 1Synonyms: catamount
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA leopard, a panther (Panthera pardus); also, an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis).
More synonyms by meaning
nounbushy-tailed wildcat of Europe that resembles the domestic cat and is regarded as the ancestor of the domestic cat
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishcatte of the mountayne
- Middle Englishcatamountain
- Englishcatamountain
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
catamountain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamountain
“catamountain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamountain. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catamountain,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catamountain.
Source: catamountain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.