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”; 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 The noun katzenjammer, while considered somewhat outdated today, has at times been used colloquially to mean various kinds of unpleasant sensations, from general confusion to depression to noisy uproar to a bad, dull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."

Example Sentences

"You do everything, in short, that contributes to a magnificent case of physical, emotional, financial and spiritual katzenjammer."

From Time Magazine Archive

But the katzenjammer I've got don't spell violets.

From The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by Henry, O.

You've got an awful katzenjammer from the Stokes' dinner, and all you men ought to be horsewhipped for letting yourselves in for such a party.

From The Heart of Rachael by Norris, Kathleen Thompson

Should he find a man suffering with katzenjammer he would pronounce him a "suspect."

From Brann the Iconoclast — Volume 10 by Brann, William Cowper

They were good-natured enough while the girls were about, but over their work and during their leisure, they developed what Honey described as every kind of blue-bean, sourball, katzenjammer and grouch.

From Angel Island by Gillmore, Inez Haynes