catamaran

noun

Etymology: From Tamil கட்டுமரம் (kaṭṭumaram), from கட்டு (kaṭṭu, “to tie”) + மரம் (maram, “tree, wood”).

1. A twin-hulled ship or boat.

   “Swift over the seas the vessel drives; Madras appears in sight. The first object catching the eye, upon the anchor being cast, was an Indian upon his catamaran, who, making a sudden motion, sprung to the side of the ship, grappled there for a moment, and the next was on the deck.”

2. A quarrelsome woman; a scold.

   “She meddles with my prescriptions for your wife; she doctors the infant in private: you'll never have a quiet house or a quiet wife as long as that old Catamaran is here.”

3. A raft of three pieces of wood lashed together, the middle piece being longer than the others, and serving as a keel on which the rower squats while paddling.

   “Three or four strange-looking things now came close to our boat, which I understood were called ‘catamarans’, consisting of nothing more than two or three large trees, the trunk part only strongly lashed together, upon which sat two men nearly in a state of nature […] .”

4. An old kind of fireship.