Ca*thar"tic, n. [Gr. &?;.] (Med.) A medicine that promotes alvine discharges; a purge; a purgative of moderate activity.
&fist; The cathartics are more energetic and certain in action that the laxatives, which simply increase the tendency to alvine evacuation; and less powerful and irritaint that the drastic purges, which cause profuse, repeated, and watery evacuations.
-- Ca*thar"tic*al*ly, adv. -- Ca*thar"tic*al*ness, n.
ca*thar"tin (?), n. (Chem.) The bitter, purgative principle of senna. It is a glucoside with the properties of a weak acid; -- called also cathartic acid, and cathartina.
Ca*thay" (?), n. China; -- an old name for the Celestial Empire, said have been introduced by Marco Polo and to be a corruption of the Tartar name for North China (Khitai, the country of the Khitans.)
Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.
Tennyson.
Cat"head` (?), n. (Naut.) A projecting piece of timber or iron near the bow of vessel, to which the anchor is hoisted and secured.
||Cath"e*dra (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?; seat. See Chair.] The official chair or throne of a bishop, or of any person in high authority.
Ex cathedra [L., from the chair], in the exercise of one's office; with authority.
The Vatican Council declares that the Pope, is infallible "when he speaks ex cathedra."
Addis & Arnold's Cath. Dict.
Ca*the"dral (?), n. [LL. cathedralis (sc. ecclesia): cf. F. cathÚdrale. See Cathedra.] The principal church in a diocese, so called because in it the bishop has his official chair (Cathedra) or throne.