katzenjammer

American  

[kat-suhn-jam-er] / ˈkæt sənˌdʒæm ər /

noun

1. the discomfort and illness experienced as the aftereffects of excessive drinking; hangover.

2. uneasiness; anguish; distress.

3. uproar; clamor.

   His speech produced a public katzenjammer.

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katzenjammer British  

/ ˈkætsənˌdʒæmə /

noun

1. a confused uproar

2. a hangover

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Etymology

Origin of katzenjammer

From German: “hangover,” literally, “wailing of cats,” equivalent to Katzen (plural of Katze cat ( def. ) ) + Jammer “discomfort,” Old High German jāmar (noun and adjective) “misery; sad”; cf. yammer; katzenjammer def. 1 was first recorded in 1840–50; and katzenjammer defs. 2 and katzenjammer 3 in 1895–1900

Explanation

A katzenjammer is an unpleasantly loud, confused, and dissonant sound. A katzenjammer next door might keep you awake all night and make you cranky all the next day. The noun katzenjammer, while considered somewhat outdated today, has at times been used colloquially to mean various kinds of unpleasant sensations, from general confusion to depression to noisy uproar to a bad, dull headache. The word means "cat's wail" in German, from katze, "cat," and jammer, "distress" or "wailing."