wampus

¹ American  

[wom-puhs] / ˈwɒm pəs /

noun

plural

wampuses

1. a strange or objectionable person; lout.

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wampus ² American  

[wom-puhs] / ˈwɒm pəs /

noun

plural

wampuses

1. wamus.

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Etymology

Origin of wampus

Perhaps extracted from catawampus

Example Sentences

"A wampus," by his definition, "is a mythical cat. very large like a dragon, and he doesn't do anything but eat fair maidens."

From Time Magazine Archive

As I had often heard my grandpa say, it was a “ringtail wampus cat.”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

But speaking of fish, I am reminded of the fur-bearing whiffletit; only some authorities say the whiffletit is not a fish at all, but a subspecies of the wampus family.

From Sundry Accounts by Cobb, Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury)

They put me in a work-day rig, as usually is done— A wampus and short overalls all sewed up into one.

From City Ballads by Carleton, Will

I went to sleep with the picture fading into my dream,—the smoked rafters, the red wampus of the old waggon-maker, and the burning splinters crumbling into a heap of rosy ash.

From Dwellers in the Hills by Post, Melville Davisson