cater-cornered love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Diagonal.
  • adverb In a diagonal position.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Diagonal; set diagonally.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective colloq. Diagonal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective US cater-corner

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective slanted across a polygon on a diagonal line

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From obsolete cater, four at dice, from Middle English, from Old French catre, four, from Latin quattuor; see kwetwer- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Across the table from him, cater-cornered, at Mr. Morse's right, sat Judge Blount, a local superior court judge.

    Chapter 37 2010

  • Today, the young couple—22 and 20 when painted—hang cater-cornered on two walls of a high-ceilinged salon, otherwise empty except for a small Van Dyck picture of the head of Christ.

    Notice of Arrival Willard Spiegelman 2011

  • He'd extend his left hand, and we would grope a bit, obliquely, cater-cornered, as if we were about to begin a minuet.

    Learning To Love Dole 2008

  • Upwards of 100 policemen flooded the area and eventually evacuated the two huge buildings about a block away and cater-cornered to my own.

    Why I Write 2007

  • Diver with an expression of devastating irony, the effect being occasionally interrupted by his attempts to engage Dick in a cater-cornered conversation across the table.

    Tender is the Night 2003

  • Across the table from him, cater-cornered, at Mr. Morse's right, sat Judge Blount, a local superior court judge.

    Chapter 37 1908

  • I was hurty from head to toe and back again, and crosswise and cater-cornered.

    Speaking of Operations 1910

  • It was a tiny, lively rivulet that came out of the woods about half a mile away from the hotel, and ran down cater-cornered through a sloping meadow, crossing the road under a flat bridge of boards, just beyond the root-beer shop at the lower end of the village.

    Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness Henry Van Dyke 1892

  • Jim did these up in the square of gingham, and he tied it across cater-cornered twice, in double knots, and showed Pony how he could put his hand through and carry it just as easy.

    The Flight of Pony Baker A Boy's Town Story William Dean Howells 1878

  • Jim did these up in the square of gingham, and he tied it across cater-cornered twice, in double knots, and showed Pony how he could put his hand through and carry it just as easy.

    Boy Life Stories and Readings Selected From The Works of William Dean Howells William Dean Howells 1878

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