cats' concert
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.20 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The cacophony of meows, hisses, and other vocalizations that cats make during a period of social interaction.
noun
Any confusing or intolerable combination of voices.
Example Sentences
- "On the night in question, the whole house was awakened by a dreadful cats'-concert. Two or three of the gang of ill-bred, shabby cats that ran wild over the brick roofs of our town were sitting on the general's terrace screaming at the top of their repulsive voices."
- "A cats' concert, usually a nocturnal event, is a discordant din, and caterwauling, from Middle English and Middle Dutch words meaning "tomcat" and "wailing," came by the 14th century to mean the ugliest of feline noises."
- "The feral Siamese have been holding a cats' concert in the night, a maniacal caterwauling that sends a shiver down the spine of every vertebrate on the island, whether quick or dead."
- "One of the most horrible sounds imaginable is that produced by several fine voices all singing different songs. This cats' concert (as school-girls call it) results in a shocking and yet ludicrous discord, equally frightful and laughable. And yet all the performers are singing individually well. Try it."
- "At first I was reminded of the days of my childhood, when for our amusement each selected his or her own tune, and then, at a given signal, all struck up at once, each maintaining his own - we called them "cats' concerts"."