Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAT'A-LOGUE, n. [kat'alog; Gr. καταλογος; κατα and λογος, according to words.]

A list or enumeration of the names of men or things disposed in a certain order, often in alphabetical order; as, a catalogue of the students of a college, or of books, or of the stars.

CAT'A-LOGUE, v.t. [as above.]

To make a list of. – Herbert.

CA-TAL'PA, n.

A large tree of the banks of the Mississippi, which in blossom has a beautiful appearance. It is the Catalpa cordifolia.

CA-TAL'Y-SIS, n. [Gr. καταλυσις; κατα and λυω.]

1. Dissolution; destruction. [Little used.] – Taylor.
2. A decomposition and new combination produced among the proximate and elementary principles of one or more compounds, by virtue of the mere presence of a substance or substances which do not of themselves enter into combination.

CAT-A-LYT'IC, a.

Relating to catalysis.

CA-TAM'A-RAN, n.

In naval language, a kind of float.

CAT-A-ME'NI-A, n. [Infra.]

The monthly flowings of females.

CAT-A-ME'NI-AL, a. [Gr. καταμηνιος; κατα and μην, a month.]

Pertaining to the catamenia, or menstrual discharges.

CAT'A-MITE, n. [L. catamitus.]

A boy kept for unnatural purposes.

CAT'A-MOUNT, n.

Cat of the mountain, the wild cat.

CAT-A-NA-DORM'OUS, a.

In ichthyology, passing once a year from salt water into fresh.

CAT'A-PASM, n. [Gr. καταπασμα.]

A dry powder for sprinkling the body. – Coxe.

CAT-A-PEL'TIC, a.

Pertaining to the catapelt. As a noun, the catapult.

CAT-A-PET'A-LOUS, a. [Gr. κατα and πεταλον.]

An epithet applied to petals of a flower, held together by stamens, which grow to their bases, as in the mallow. – Brande.

CAT-A-PHON'ICS, n. [Gr. κατα, and φωνη, sound.]

The doctrine of reflected sounds, a branch of acoustics. – Encyc.

CAT'A-PHRACT, n. [L. cataphracta; Gr. καταφρακτος, from καταφρασσω, to arm or fortify.]

1. In the ancient military art, a piece of heavy defensive armor, formed of cloth or leather, strengthened with scales or links, used to defend the breast, or whole body, or even the horse as well as the rider. – Encyc.
2. A horseman in complete armor. – Milton.

CAT'A-PHRACT-ED, a.

1. Covered with a hard, callous skin.
2. Equipped with heavy, defensive armor, like the ancient Romans.

CAT'A-PLASM, n. [Gr. καταπλασμα, from καταπλασσω, to anoint, or to spread as a plaster.]

A poultice; a soft and moist substance to be applied to some part of the body, to excite or repel heat, or to relax the skin, &c. When mustard is an ingredient, it is called a sinapism. – Encyc.

CAT'A-PUCE, n.

The herb spurge. [Obs.] – Chaucer.

CAT'A-PULT, n. [Gr. καταπελτης; L. catapulta; κατα and πελτη, a target, or more probably from παλλω or βαλλω, to throw or drive, L. pello.]

A military engine used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for throwing stones, darts, and arrows upon an enemy. Some of these would throw a stone of a hundred pounds weight. – Mitford.

CAT'A-RACT, n. [L. cataracta; Gr. καταρακτης, from καταρασσω, to break or fall with violence, from ῤασσω, ῤαξω, to strike or dash.]

1. A great fall of water over a precipice; as, that of Niagara, of the Rhine, Danube, and Nile. It is a cascade upon a great scale. The tremendous cataracts of America thundering in their solitudes. – Irving.
2. In medicine and surgery, an opacity of the crystaline lens, or its capsule; a disorder in the eye, by which the pupil, which is usually black and transparent, becomes opake, blue, gray, brown, &c., by which vision is impaired or destroyed. – Encyc.

CAT-A-RACT'OUS, a.

Partaking of the nature of a cataract in the eye.

CA-TARRH', n. [catàr; L. catarrhus; Gr. καταρῤοος, from καταρῤεω, to flow down.]

1. A defluxion, or increased secretion of mucus from the membranes of the nose, fauces and bronchiæ, with fever, sneezing, cough, thirst, lassitude and loss of appetite, and sometimes an entire loss of taste; called also a cold, coryza. An epidemic catarrh is called influenza. – Hooper. Coxe. Encyc.
2. A chronic affection of the mucous membrane of the nostrils and fauces. – Miner.

CA-TARRH'AL, or CA-TARRH'OUS, a.

Pertaining to catarrh, produced by it or attending it; as, a catarrhal fever.

CA-TAS'TE-RISM, n. [Gr. καταστερισμος, from καταστεριζω, to distinguish with stars, or to place among the stars; κατα, and αστηρ, a star.]

A constellation, or a placing among the stars.