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13 lis 2022 · Earliest use seems to be in adverbial form, catawampusly (1834), expressing no certain meaning but adding intensity to the action: "utterly, completely; with avidity, fiercely, eagerly." It appears as a noun from 1843, as a name for an imaginary hobgoblin or fright, perhaps from influence of catamount .
24 paź 2016 · Catawampous, or catawamptious, a word enlarged in the West from catamount. This animal had already furnished the hunter with the expression, "he dropped on him like a catamount on a coon," and hence, no doubt, the further development of the word.
14 cze 2021 · Catawampus is a protean, nonsense word. It has no specific meaning, changing to fit the circumstances. Over the years it has meant askew, total or totally, excessive or excessively, ill-tempered, a fanciful creature, and so on. Similarly, it has been used as an adjective, noun, verb, adverb, exclamation, and proper name.
2 gru 2017 · It first appeared as a noun (catawampus) in Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit (1843), though it probably was first recorded as a noun in American works shortly before that. In that sense, it suggested some sort of hobgoblin or other frightening fantastical creature, likely influenced by “catamount,” another word for a cougar or other large cat ...
23 cze 2024 · Etymology 1. [edit] The first part may be related to cater -corner. The second part may be related to wampish (“wriggle, twist about like a fish”). Adjective. [edit] catawampus (comparative more catawampus, superlative most catawampus) (US) Out of alignment, in disarray or disorder: crooked, askew. Alternative forms. [edit] catawampous.
The earliest known use of the noun catawampus is in the 1840s. OED's earliest evidence for catawampus is from 1843, in the writing of ‘Robert Carlton’ (real name Baynard Rush Hall).
25 kwi 2014 · It’s possible that catawampus shares the same root as kitty-corner—cater—paired with the Scottish wampish, which means “to wriggle, twist, and swerve about.” This would explain the “askew” and “diagonal” meanings, which were first recorded in 1864 and 1873 respectively.
