cat·a·ma·ran   (kāt'ə-mə-rān')    n.   A boat with two parallel hulls or floats, especially a light sailboat with a mast mounted on a transverse frame joining the hulls. A raft of logs or floats lashed together and propelled by paddles or sails. [Tamil kaṭṭumaram : kaṭṭu, to tie + maram, wood, log.]

Catamaran

Cat`a*ma*ran"\, n. [The native East Indian name.]

1. A kind of raft or float, consisting of two or more logs or pieces of wood lashed together, and moved by paddles or sail; -- used as a surf boat and for other purposes on the coasts of the East and West Indies and South America. Modified forms are much used in the lumber regions of North America, and at life-saving stations.

2. Any vessel with twin hulls, whether propelled by sails or by steam; esp., one of a class of double-hulled pleasure boats remarkable for speed.

3. A kind of fire raft or torpedo bat.

The incendiary rafts prepared by Sir Sidney Smith for destroying the French flotilla at Boulogne, 1804, were called catamarans. --Knight.

4. A quarrelsome woman; a scold. [Colloq.]

catamaran