# catamaran

Pronunciation: US say "KA-tuh-muh-ran" /ˈkæ.tə.məˌɹæn/; UK say "ka-tuh-muh-RAN" /ˌkæ.tə.məˈɹæn/

## Noun

1. A boat or ship built with two parallel hulls joined together.
   - Simple: A boat with two hulls joined side by side under one deck.
   - _The catamaran sliced through the waves at remarkable speed._
   - _Modern racing catamarans can lift one hull clear of the water._

## Noun

2. A raft of three pieces of wood lashed together, the central piece longer than the rest, serving as a keel on which the paddler squats while rowing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A small raft made of three logs tied together. The rower sits on the longer middle log to paddle.
3. An old kind of fireship: a boat loaded with combustibles and floated into an enemy fleet to set it ablaze. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An old kind of boat that was set on fire and sent into enemy ships to burn them.
4. A bad-tempered, quarrelsome woman who is given to scolding and nagging. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A woman who argues a lot and often scolds other people.
   - _The landlady was a notorious catamaran, berating her tenants over the smallest fault._
   - _Village gossip painted her as a catamaran whose sharp tongue spared no one._

## Origin

From Tamil கட்டுமரம் (kaṭṭumaram), a compound of கட்டு (kaṭṭu, "to tie") and மரம் (maram, "tree, wood").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/catamaran (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).