katzenjammer

• Katzenjammer

Borrowed from German Katzenjammer (“hangover”, literally “the wailing of cats”); a determinative compound formed from Katze (“cat”) +‎ -n- +‎ Jammer (“wailing; lamentation”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈkætsənd͡ʒæmə(ɹ)/

katzenjammer (plural katzenjammers)

1. A hangover.
   • 1936, Henry Miller, “Burlesk”, in Black Spring, Paris: The Obelisk Press […], OCLC 459562537; republished New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, 1963, →ISBN, page 229:

     In those days a still-birth brought as high as ten dollars and after riding the shoot-the-chutes we always left a little stale beer for the morning because the finest thing in the world for Katzenjammer is a glass of stale beer.

2. Jitters; discord; confusion.
3. Depression.