Word.ws English Dictionary

cater-cousin

Syllables: ca·ter-cou·sinUK/ˈkeɪtəˌkʌz(ə)n//ˈkeɪtəɹˌkʌz(ə)n/

cater-cousin noun: a person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.

Noun

cater-cousin (plural cater-cousins)

  1. (archaic) A person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.
    • His Maſter and he (ſauing your vvorſhips reuerence) are ſcarſe catercoſins.c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act...
    • His Mother vvas an Arch-Deacon's Daughter; as honeſt a VVoman as ever broke Bread: She and I have been Cater-Couſins in our Youth; vve have tumbled together betvveen a pair of Sheets, i'faith.1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 29
  2. (figuratively) A thing which is closely associated with or related to another thing.
    • But he þᵗ [that] wil take his brothers parte against right, as to ratifie his brothers wrong deceyuing, he is to much natural, tanquam sequens ingenium siue inclinationem naturæ corruptæ contra voluntatem dei [as one following the disposition or inclination of the corrupt nature against the will of...a. 1556 (date written), Hugh Latimer, “A Frutefull Letter of Maister Latimer Written to a Certaine Gentilman”, in John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […]...
    • To this Commune bonum (or euery horſe his loafe) Yarmouth in propinquity is as the buckle to the thong, and the next finger to the thumbe; not that it is ſibbe or cater-couſins to any mũgrel Democratia, in vvhich one is all, & all is one, but that in her as they are not al one ſo one or tvvo there...1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 16

cater-cousin meaning in Tamil

cater-cousin in Tamil

நெருங்கிய நண்பர்

Examples of cater-cousin in a sentence

  • He [Samuel Johnson] vvas humble enough to deſire my aſſiſtance on this occaſion, though he and I vvere never cater-couſins; […]1759 March 16 (date written), James Boswell, quoting [Tobias] Smollett, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry...
  • Out rushed sighs and groans by dozens, / Forth by scores oaths, curses flew: / Proving you were cater-cousins, / Kith and kindred, king and you!1876, Robert Browning, “At the ‘Mermaid’”, in Pacchiarotto and How He Worked in Distemper: With Other Poems, London: Smith, Elder, & Co....

Synonyms of cater-cousin

Forms of cater-cousin

pluralcater-cousins
alternative formcater cousin

Origin of cater-cousin

Apparently from cater + cousin; further etymology uncertain. The following derivations of the first element cater have been suggested: * Stephen Skinner (1623–1667) proposed a derivation from French quatre (“four”), used in place of quatrième (“fourth”) to refer to a fourth cousin. Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) agreed, saying that the term alluded to the “ridiculousness of calling cousin or relation to so remote a degree”. The Oxford English Dictionary (“OED”) states that this “seems very unlikely”. * Instead, the OED suggests that the first element is from cater (“(obsolete) provider of food”, noun) or cater (“to provide with food”, verb), with the term originally referring to people being considered as related because they were catered for or boarded together: compare companion (literally “bread-sharer”), foster father (literally “food-father”), etc. * Anatoly Liberman (born 1937) doubts both of the above, preferring a derivation from a lost North Germanic word meaning “angled; crooked; clumsy”: compare Danish kejte (“left hand”), kejtet (“awkward, clumsy”), English cater-corner (“of or pertaining to something at a diagonal to another; (Britain dialectal, obsolete) uneven, not...

Questions about cater-cousin

What does cater-cousin mean?
Cater-cousin means a person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.
What is cater-cousin in Tamil?
Cater-cousin in Tamil is நெருங்கிய நண்பர். See Cater-cousin meaning in Tamil.
How do you use cater-cousin in a sentence?
He [Samuel Johnson] vvas humble enough to deſire my aſſiſtance on this occaſion, though he and I vvere never cater-couſins; […]
What part of speech is cater-cousin?
Cater-cousin is a noun.
How do you pronounce cater-cousin?
Cater-cousin is pronounced /ˈkeɪtəˌkʌz(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of cater-cousin?
The plural of cater-cousin is cater-cousins.

Words near cater-cousin in the dictionary

  1. catepanates
  2. catepans
  3. cater
  4. cater-corner
  5. cater-cornered
  6. cater-cousin
  7. cater-cousins
  8. cater-waiter
  9. cater-waiters
  10. cateran
  11. caterans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cater-cousin (page history and authors); cater-cousin (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-cater-cousin.oga.

Cite this entry: “cater-cousin.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cater-cousin. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.