catamount

Shortened from catamountain, from cat o' mountain, cat of the mountain.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkætəmaʊnt/

catamount (plural catamounts)

1. A wild animal of the family Felidae, especially cougar, puma or lynx.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 4 scene 1

     Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints

     With dry convulsions; shorten up their sinews

     With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them

     Than pard, or cat o' mountain.

   • 1920, Peter B. Kyne, chapter VIII, in The Understanding Heart:

     Uncle Charley's voice was very soft and there was a weary note in it. “Great snarlin' catamounts, but I'm tired.”