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.]
Catamenia
(||Cat`a*me"nia) n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ta` katamh`nia.] (Med.) The monthly courses of women; menstrual
discharges; menses.
Catamenial
(Cat`a*me"ni*al) a. [Gr. katamh`nios monthly; kata` down, back, again + mh`n month.]
Pertaining to the catamenia, or menstrual discharges.
Catamite
(Cat"a*mite) n. [L. Catamitus, an old form of Ganymedes Ganymede, Gr. Ganymh`dhs.] A
boy kept for unnatural purposes.
Catamount
(Cat"a*mount) n. [Cat + mount; cf. Sp. gato montes mountain cat.] (Zoöl.) The cougar.
Applied also, in some parts of the United States, to the lynx.
Catanadromous
(Cat"a*nad`ro*mous) a. [Gr. kata` down + 'ana` up + dro`mos running, course.] (Zoöl.)
Ascending and descending fresh streams from and to the sea, as the salmon; anadromous. [R.]
Catapasm
(Cat"a*pasm) n. [Gr. fr. to besprinkle; kata` down, wholly + to strew, or sprinkle.] (Med.)
A compound medicinal powder, used by the ancients to sprinkle on ulcers, to absorb perspiration, etc.
Dunglison.
Catapeltic
(Cat`a*pel"tic) a. Of or pertaining to a catapult.
Catapetalous
(Cat`a*pet"al*ous) a. [Pref. cata + petalous.] (Bot.) Having the petals held together by
stamens, which grow to their bases, as in the mallow.
Cataphonic
(Cat`a*phon"ic) a. Of or relating to cataphonics; catacoustic.
Cataphonics
(Cat`a*phon"ics) n. [Pref. cata + phonic: cf. F. cataphonique.] (Physics) That branch of
acoustics which treats of reflected sounds; catacoustics.
Cataphract
(Cat"a*phract) n. [L. cataphractes, Gr. fr. covered, fr. to cover; kata` down, wholly + fra`ssein
to inclose.]
1. (Mil. Antiq.) Defensive armor used for the whole body and often for the horse, also, esp. the linked
mail or scale armor of some eastern nations.
2. A horseman covered with a cataphract.
Archers and slingers, cataphracts, and spears.
Milton.
3. (Zoöl.) The armor or plate covering some fishes.
Cataphracted
(Cat"a*phract`ed) a. (Zoöl.) Covered with a cataphract, or armor of plates, scales, etc.; or
with that which corresponds to this, as horny or bony plates, hard, callous skin, etc.
Cataphractic
(Cat`a*phrac"tic) a. Of, pertaining to, or resembling, a cataphract.
Cataphysical
(Cat`a*phys"ic*al), a. [Pref. cata + physical.] Unnatural; contrary to nature. [R.]
Some artists . . . have given to Sir Walter Scott a pile of forehead which is unpleassing and cataphysical.
De
Quincey.
