Caterpillar.—"Catyrpelwyrm among fruit" is corrupted from old French Chatte peleuse (Palsgrave, 1530). "Hairy cat;" the last part of the word was probably assimilated to piller, a robber or despoiler (Palmer's Folk Etymology).
Caterwauling.—The wrawl of cats in rutting times; any hideous noise. Topsel gives catwralling, to "wrall;" "wrawl," to rail or quarrel with a loud voice; hence the Yorkshire expression, "raising a wrow," meaning a row or quarrel. There is also the archaic adjective wraw (angry). Caterwaul, therefore, is the wawl or wrawl of cats; the er being either a plural, similar to "childer" (children), or a corrupted genitive.—Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.
"What a caterwawling do you keep here!"
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act II., Scene 3.
"To yawl.—To squall or scream harshly like an enraged cat."—Holloway (Norfolk).
"Thou must be patient; we came crying hither;
Thou knowest the first time that we smell air,
We waul and cry."
King John, Act IV.
Cat-eyed.—Sly, gray eyes, or with large pupils, watchful.
Cat-fall.—A rope used in ships for hoisting the anchor to the cat-head.
Catfish.—A species of the squalus, or shark (Felis marinus). The catfish of North America is a species of cottus, or bull-head.