cateran

American  

[kat-er-uhn] / ˈkæt ər ən /

noun

1. (formerly) a freebooter or marauder of the Scottish Highlands.

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cateran British  

/ ˈkætərən /

noun

1. (formerly) a member of a band of brigands and marauders in the Scottish highlands

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Etymology

Origin of cateran

1325–75; < Medieval Latin caterānus, Latinized form of Middle English ( Scots ) catherein < Scots Gaelic ceatharn; kern ¹

Example Sentences

Keep me!" she cried, struggling with her mirth, "you have the finest timber face--and you to marry the daughter of a Hieland cateran!

From David Balfour, Second Part Being Memoirs Of His Adventures At Home And Abroad, The Second Part: In Which Are Set Forth His Misfortunes Anent The Appin Murder; His Troubles With Lord Advocate Grant; Captivity On The Bass Rock; Journey Into Holland And France; And Singular Relations With James More Drummond Or Macgregor, A Son Of The Notorious Rob Roy, And His Daughter Catriona by Stevenson, Robert Louis

"Then pressing my proffered hand in his, he turned away; and in a few minutes the Highland cateran was out of sight."

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 7 by Various

I would give them as short a shrift as ever a Highland cateran got from a Glasgow judge.

From The Mystery of Cloomber by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

Their only foe is the hawk, who levies blackmail on them as coolly and regularly as any other plumed cateran.

From Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885 by Various

At bottom this man was just a wild Highland cateran with a dash of Spanish buccaneer, hot-blooded, avid of gain under circumstances so propitious, insatiable.

From Maid of the Mist by Oxenham, John