[see next; the sb. is app. from the vb.] The cry of the cat at rutting time. Also transf. Any similar sound.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 73. 2/2. His softest Courtship’s like his Midnight Call, You’d swear it was not Talk, but Caterwaul.
1855. O. W. Holmes, Poems, 125. The lovely caterwaul, Tart solo, sour duet, and general squall,—These are our hymn.
1880. ‘Mark Twain,’ Tramp Abroad, I. 215. That variegated and enormous unanimous caterwaul.
