Where does “cater-cornered” come from?

cater-cornered (English) comes from English cater, from Middle English catour, from Middle English acatour, from Old French acheter, from Vulgar Latin accaptare, from Latin acceptō, from Latin accipiō, from Latin ad- — in.

cater-cornered (English): Alternative form of cater-corner

Definitions

  1. Alternative form of cater-corner

Ancestry of “cater-cornered”, step by step

cater-cornered traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English cater

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcaterTo provide, "particularly:"; Synonym of acater:...
2Middle Englishcatouracater, provisioner
3Middle Englishacatouracater
4Old Frenchacheterto purchase; buy
5Vulgar Latinaccaptare
6Latinacceptōto take, receive, accept (regularly)
7Latinaccipiōto receive, accept, take
8Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
9Latinīn-un-, non-, not
10Latinînin, at, on, upon, from (space)
11Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
12Proto-Italicenin
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

via English cornered

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishcorneredsimple past tense and past participle of corner

Words derived from “cater-cornered

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁énEvery word from Latin īn-Every word from Latin ad-