Ca*tas"ter*ism (?), n. [Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to place among the stars.] A placing among the stars; a catalogue of stars.
The catasterisms of Eratosthenes.
Whewell.
Ca*tas"tro*phe (?), n. [L. catastropha, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to turn up and down, to overturn; kata` down + &?; to turn.] 1. An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things; a final event, usually of a calamitous or disastrous nature; hence, sudden calamity; great misfortune.
The strange catastrophe of affairs now at London.
Bp. Burnet.
The most horrible and portentous catastrophe that nature ever yet saw.
Woodward.
2. The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.
3. (Geol.) A violent and widely extended change in the surface of the earth, as, an elevation or subsidence of some part of it, effected by internal causes. Whewell.
Cat`a*stroph"ic (?), a. Of a pertaining to a catastrophe. B. Powell.
Ca*tas"tro*phism (?), n. (Geol.) The doctrine that the geological changes in the earth's crust have been caused by the sudden action of violent physical causes; -- opposed to the doctrine of uniformism.
Ca*tas"tro*phist (?), n. (Geol.) One who holds the theory or catastrophism.
Ca*taw"ba (?), n. 1. A well known light red variety of American grape.