katzenjammer

Definition

A hangover.

Etymology

Borrowed from German Katzenjammer (“hangover”, literally “the wailing of cats”); a determinative compound formed from Katze (“cat”) + -n- + Jammer (“wailing; lamentation”).

Example Sentences

• "Also, I had found my way into the realm of the mind, and I was intellectually intoxicated. (Alas! as I was to learn at a later period, intellectual intoxication too, has its katzenjammer.)"
• "In those days a still-birth brought as high as ten dollars and after riding the shoot-the-chutes we always left a little stale beer for the morning because the finest thing in the world for Katzenjammer is a glass of stale beer."
• "Tell you the truth, I've had an intimation from the State Department—unofficially, of course—that whenever a soldier of fortune demands a fleet of gunboats in a case of revolutionary katzenjammer, I should cut the cable, give him all the tobacco he wants, and after he's shot take his clothes, if they fit me, for part payment of my salary."