catcall

See also: cat-call

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkætkɔl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Mid-17th c., from the resemblance to cats' nocturnal cries. From cat +‎ call.

Alternative forms

• cat-call (dated)

Noun

catcall (plural catcalls)

1. A shout or whistle expressing dislike, especially from a crowd or audience; a jeer, a boo.
   • 1998 Aug, Vibe, page 44:

     There, amid the curses and catcalls of sweaty beer drinkers, the tour's headliners are set to engage in a hallowed feminist ritual:

2. A shout, whistle, or comment of a harassingly sexual nature, usually made toward a passing woman.
   • 2014 November 12, Kathering Schulten, “What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment?”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     In the Room for Debate forum Stopping Street Harassment, the editors ask four people to weigh in on the question, Should current laws dealing with harassment be strengthened to include catcalling, or will that go too far in controlling speech and behavior? (A catcall in this context is defined as “a whistle, shout, or comment of a sexual nature to a woman passing by.”)

3. (historical) A whistle blown by a theatre-goer to express disapproval.
   • 1823, The Drama, Or, Theatrical Pocket Magazine, page 289:

     At what period was the custom of blowing catcalls at the theatre discontinued?

Related terms

• swit swoo
• wit woo

 

Translations

shout or whistle expressing dislike

• Bulgarian: освиркване (bg) (osvirkvane), дюдюкане (bg) (djudjukane)
• Catalan: xiulada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: boegeroep (nl) n, fluitconcert (nl) n
• Finnish: buuaus, pilkka (fi), vihellys (fi)
• German: Buhruf (de) m, Schmähruf m, Pfiff (de) m, Auspfeifen n, Ausbuhen n
• Hungarian: kifütyülés (hu)
• Portuguese: apupo (pt) (boo), assobiadela (whistle), vaia (pt)
• Russian: освистывание (ru) n (osvistyvanije)
• Spanish: rechifla (es) f (whistle), abucheo (es) m (shout)
• Swedish: burop (sv) n (shout)

shout, whistle, or comment of a sexual nature

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: vihellys (fi), viheltely (whistle), huutelu (fi) (shout)
• German: Hinterherpfeifen n
• Hungarian: (oda)füttyentés, füttyögetés, füttyögés, kőművesfütty (nők után), utánafütyülés
• Portuguese: piropo (pt)
• Russian: приставание (ru) (pristavanije)
• Spanish: piropo (es) m

Verb

catcall (third-person singular simple present catcalls, present participle catcalling, simple past and past participle catcalled)

1. (transitive) To make such an exclamation.
   • 2007 April 1, Ada Calhoun, “Up Front”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     When Susan Seligson thinks about breasts — and, since she’s a DDD-endowed (touché) middle-aged woman who’s been groped and catcalled her whole life, that’s often, too — she thinks about ... her own DDDs.

Derived terms

• catcallee
• catcaller

 

Translations

make such an exclamation

• Bulgarian: свиркам (bg) (svirkam), освирквам (osvirkvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: viheltää (fi) (whistle), huudella (fi) (shout)
• German: buhen (de), ausbuhen (de), pfeifen (de), auspfeifen (de), nachpfeifen (de)
• Hungarian: (oda)füttyent, füttyöget (hu), füttyög (hu) (nők után)
• Russian: освистать (ru) (osvistatʹ), освистывать (ru) (osvistyvatʹ)
• Spanish: rechiflar (es) (whistle), abuchear (es) (shout)
• Swedish: bua (sv) (shout)

Etymology 2

Short for change availability or type + call.

Noun

catcall (plural catcalls)

1. (programming) In the Eiffel programming language, a run-time error caused by use of the wrong data type.
   • 1999, Ian Joyner, Objects Unencapsulated: Java, Eiffel, and C++?, page 244:

     Java does not let you make members more private than they are in parent classes, so has no catcall problem for changing availability. Thus to avoid catcalls with export problems, you should adopt a once-public, always-public policy.