English

Alternative forms

• catawamptious; catawampous; cattywampus; cattywampous; caliwampus; caliwampous; cankywampus; kittywampus; gittywampus; skiwampus

Adjective

catawampus ‎(comparative more catawampus, superlative most catawampus)

1. Out of alignment, crooked, cater-corner.
   • 1885, Charles Egbert Craddock, Down the Ravine:

     "Waal, I noticed ez the aidge o' one o' them boards war sot sorter catawampus, ...".

2. Fierce, destructive.
   • 1844, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Chapter 21:

     There air some catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong; but don't mind them, they're company.

Synonyms

• (out of alignment): askew, awry, crooked, off-kilter
• (fierce, destructive): destructive, fierce

Translations

Noun

catawampus ‎(plural catawampuses)

1. (US) A fierce imaginary animal, a bogeyman.

Translations

References

• Jonathan E. Lighter, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume I, A-G. Random House USA, 1994. ISBN 9780394544274.
• Frederic G. Cassidy, Dictionary of American Regional English, Volume I, A-C. Harvard University Press, 1985. ISBN 0674205111.

• Eric Partridge, The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang. Routledge, 1973. ISBN 9780710077615.
• Josefa Heifetz Byrne, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words. Granada Publishing, 1979. ISBN 0246111518.