cats' concert

cats' concert (plural cats' concerts)

1. The cacophony of meows, hisses, and other vocalizations that cats make during a period of social interaction.
   • 1976, Valentin Kataev, A Mosaic of Life Or, The Magic Horn of Oberon: Memoirs of a Russian Childhood, page 180:

     On the night in question, the whole house was awakened by a dreadful cats'-concert. Two or three of the gang of ill-bred, shabby cats that ran wild over the brick roofs of our town were sitting on the general's terrace screaming at the top of their repulsive voices.

   • 1989, Christine Ammer, It's Raining Cats and Dogs ... And Other Beastly Expressions, page 4:

     A cats' concert, usually a nocturnal event, is a discordant din, and caterwauling, from Middle English and Middle Dutch words meaning "tomcat" and "wailing," came by the 14th century to mean the ugliest of feline noises.

   • 2000, Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird, A Novel, page 68:

     The feral Siamese have been holding a cats' concert in the night, a maniacal caterwauling that sends a shiver down the spine of every vertebrate on the island, whether quick or dead.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Any confusing or intolerable combination of voices.
   • 1839, Eliza Leslie, Miss Leslie's Behaviour Book: A Guide and Manual for Ladies, page 332:

     One of the most horrible sounds imaginable is that produced by several fine voices all singing different songs. This cats' concert (as school-girls call it) results in a shocking and yet ludicrous discord, equally frightful and laughable. And yet all the performers are singing individually well. Try it.

   • 1877, Almira Losee, Life Sketches, Being Narrations of Scenes Occurring in the Labours of Almira Losee, page 196:

     At first I was reminded of the days of my childhood, when for our amusement each selected his or her own tune, and then, at a given signal, all struck up at once, each maintaining his own - we called them "cats' concerts".