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a vessel, usually propelled by sail, formed of two hulls or floats held side by side by a frame above them.
Compare trimaran.
a float or sailing raft formed of a number of logs lashed together, used in certain parts of India, South America, etc.
a quarrelsome person, especially a woman.
Canadian Dialect. a wooden sled.
Historical Examples

He might draw the line at a white plesiosaur riding up to meet his catamaran.
Sjambak John Holbrook Vance

She was a “twin boat:” that is, she had two hulls, like a “catamaran.”
Down South Oliver Optic

As the catamaran ran in and grounded on the beach, Flora came down to meet him.
Dick Leslie’s Luck Harry Collingwood

By noon of the second day the catamaran was completed,—so far as the hull was concerned.
The Ocean Waifs Mayne Reid

He therefore at once hauled his wind, and, with the captured canoe in tow, headed the catamaran on her homeward journey.
Dick Leslie’s Luck Harry Collingwood

But neither of these could be near the track on which the catamaran was holding her course.
The Ocean Waifs Mayne Reid

And there we found a catamaran, a real catamaran, one evidently made by some Fire-Man.
Before Adam Jack London

Fortunately for the crew of the catamaran, it did not become a storm.
The Ocean Waifs Mayne Reid

Well, with a few changes your ice-boat is to become a catamaran.
Harper’s Young People, April 19, 1881 Various

They were evidently in chase of him, with as much eagerness as he was in chase of the catamaran.
The Ocean Waifs Mayne Reid

noun
a sailing, or sometimes motored, vessel with twin hulls held parallel by a rigid framework
a primitive raft made of logs lashed together
(old-fashioned) a quarrelsome woman
n.

East Indies log raft, 1670s, from Tamil kattu-maram “tied wood,” from kattu “tie, binding” + maram “wood, tree.”