Dictionary

cataract en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)/ (General-American)
• /ˈkætəɹækt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm The noun is derived from cataracts (noun (plural only)), from Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either: * from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρᾰ́σσω (arắssō, “to dash to pieces; to strike”) (further etymology unknown, possibly onomatopoeic) or ῥᾱ́σσω (rhā́ssō, “to dash; to strike”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₂ǵʰ- (“to pound, strike”)); or * from καταρρηγνύναι (katarrhēgnúnai, “to break down”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Meanings

1. A (large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff.
   • This Elephantis being an Iſland, is inhabited beneath the lovveſt cataract or fall of vvater three miles, and aboue Syene 16: […] 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book V.] Of Asia.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 98:
   • The cataracts on the Nile helped to compartment Upper Egypt.
   • [T]he Salmon ſeekes a freſher ſtreame to find / […] and ſtems the vvatry tract / VVhere Tivy falling dovvne, doth make a Cataract, / Forc't by the riſing Rocks that there her courſe oppoſe, […] 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Sixt Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 88:
   • [C]oming dovvn farther the ſame River, they heard a terrible Noiſe in the River, as of a mighty Cataract, or VVater-fall, vvhich increaſed as they came forvvard, till it grevv ſo loud, that they could not hear themſelves ſpeak, much leſs hear one another. 1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], →OCLC, page 190:
   • The sounding cataract / Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock, / The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood, / Their colours and their forms, were then to me / An appetite: […] 1798 July 13 (date written), William Wordsworth, “[Poems of the Imagination.] Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, […].”, in Poems […], volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1815, →OCLC, page 76:
2. (broadly) A flood of water; specifically, steep rapids in a river.
   • [S]uch a violent ſtorme of raine vnburthened it ſelfe neere this place, and cauſed ſuch a ſudden Deluge and Cattaract, that a Carrauan of tvvo thouſand Camels periſht, and vvere caſt avvay by it. 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Description of Larr”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 54:
   • [T]here came a storm such as no living Englishman remembered. The summer evening grew black as night. Cataracts of water flooded the houses in the city and turned the streets into rivers; […] 1860, James Anthony Froude, “Queen Jane and Queen Mary”, in History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth, volume VI, London: John W[illiam] Parker, and Son, […], →OCLC, page 1:
   • Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts, / And the hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts. 1835, Alfred Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 92:
3. (figuratively) An overwhelming downpour or rush; a flood.
   • Cataracts of declamation thunder here, / There foreſts of no-meaning ſpread the page / In vvhich all comprehenſion vvanders loſt; […] 1785, William Cowper, “Book IV. The Winter Evening.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 141:
   • His cataract of eloquence
   • The palace bang'd, and buzz'd and clackt, / And all the long-pent stream of life / Dash'd downward in a cataract. 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Day-Dream. The Revival.”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 156:
   • [T]he look of the man Casimir, between his cataract of black beard and this semi-nightcap, is carelessly truculent. 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “Of the Baireuth-Anspach Branch”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III, page 231:
   • As if on cue came a cataract of explosions. She turned on her heel and scurried back to the courtyard and down into the school's basement. The dirt floor, low ceiling and unfinished stone walls were barely illuminated by candles and a dim string of green decorative lights. 2022 May 19, James Verini, “Surviving the Siege of Kharkiv”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2024, section:
   • Never came such a cataract of evil news on an Aulic Council before. 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “Friedrich Takes the Field again, Intent on Having Neisse”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 459:
   • Water—there is not a drop of water there! Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it? 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 3:
4. (historical) A type of governor used in single-acting steam engines, where a flow of water through an opening regulates the stroke.
5. (also, figuratively, obsolete) Synonym of waterspout (“a whirlwind that forms over water”).
   • [W]hat if all / Her ſtores vvere op'n'd, and this Firmament / Of Hell, ſhould ſpout her Cataracts of Fire, […] 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [D4], verso, lines 174–176:
   • They ſay furthermore that in certeyne places of the ſea, they ſawe certeyne ſtremes of water which they caule ſpoutes faulynge owt of the ayer into the ſea: […] Sum phantaſie that theſe ſhulde bee the cataractes of heauen whiche were all opened at Noes fludde. 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Seconde Vyage to Guinea”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, decade, folio 357, verso:
   • [A] long ſpout of ſtinking raine Pyramide vviſe, diſſolued it ſelfe very neere vs. This hidious Cataract, as I conceiue is exhaled by the Suns povverfull Attract, and conuerted into an ill congeſted Cloud, vvanting height and heate, is forced into a violent eruption, vvhich diſſolued by the penetrating Sunne, eſſudes it ſelfe altogether (vvhence it had beginning) into the Ocean, […] 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “[The Hesperides]”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 7:
   • Blovv vvind & cracke your cheekes, rage, blovv / You caterickes, & Hircanios ſpout til you haue drencht, / The ſteeples drovvn'd the cockes, […] c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature [F4], recto:

Forms

Deriveds

glassblower's cataract · cataractal · cataract bog · cataractic · cataracted

Descendants

katarak · kōtrāāk

Synonyms

waterspout

Translations (30)

ja 激流 (flood of water — see also flood) · cs katarakt ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · ru проливно́й дождь (flood of water — see also flood) · pt catarata ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · tr çavlan ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · grc καταρράκτης ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · de Katarakt ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · ru ли́вень (flood of water — see also flood) · fr cataracte ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · nl stortvloed (flood of water — see also flood) · bg проливен дъжд (flood of water — see also flood) · tr şelale ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · el καταρράκτης ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · fi nestejarru (type of governor used in single-acting steam engines, where a flow of water through an opening regulates the stroke) · bg потоп (flood of water — see also flood) · nl cataract ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · tr çağlayan ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · tr kaskat ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · es catarata ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · dum cataracte ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · fi tulva (flood of water — see also flood) · it cateratta ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · mh kōtrāāk ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · fi ryöppy (flood of water — see also flood) · id katarak ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · la cataracta ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · ro cataractă ((large) waterfall, specifically one flowing over the edge of a cliff (cognates) — see also waterfall) · cmn 洪流 (flood of water — see also flood) · fi kuohu (flood of water — see also flood) · ru пото́п (flood of water — see also flood)

wikipedia: Iguazu Falls

cataract en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)/ (General-American)
• /ˈkætəɹækt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

PIE word *ḱóm The noun is derived from cataracts (noun (plural only)), from Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“floodgate of heaven”), from Old French cataracte (modern French cataracte), and from its etymon Latin cataracta (“floodgate; waterfall”), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “(noun) waterfall; (adjective) rushing downwards”), from καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (katar(rh)ā́ssō, “to pour down; to rush downwards”) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being). Καταρ(ρ)ᾱ́σσω (Katar(rh)ā́ssō) is derived either: * from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘downwards’) + ἀρᾰ́σσω (arắssō, “to dash to pieces; to strike”) (further etymology unknown, possibly onomatopoeic) or ῥᾱ́σσω (rhā́ssō, “to dash; to strike”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wreh₂ǵʰ- (“to pound, strike”)); or * from καταρρηγνύναι (katarrhēgnúnai, “to break down”). The verb is derived from the noun.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) Of a river, etc.: to fall in the form of a waterfall.
   • [N]o river should cataract larger than the Clyde. 1832 July, [John Wilson], “Christopher [North] at the Lakes. Flight Second.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXII, number CXCVI, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 125:
   • After a short rest, we moved on over a quiet space of water to the third and greatest fall, where the whole body of the Nile precipitates itself from between two towering cliffs, foaming and plashing, and, in short, cataracting very respectably. 1844, Eliot Warburton, “The Cataract and Philæ”, in The Crescent and the Cross; or, Romance and Realities of Eastern Travel. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1845, →OCLC, page 285:
2. (figuratively, rare, transitive) To cause (something) to pour or rush like a waterfall.
   • My Poems have been reviewed. The Monthly has cataracted panegyric on me; the Critical cascaded it, and the Analytical dribbled it with civility. 1796 July 4 (date written), Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Biographical Supplement to the Biographia Literaria. Chapter III. [1795 to 1796].”, in Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions […], 2nd edition, volume II, part II, London: William Pickering, published 1847, →OCLC, page 370:

Forms

Translations (3)

fi syöstä (to cause (something) to pour or rush like a waterfall) · fi syöksyä (of a river, etc.: to fall in the form of a waterfall) · fi pudota (of a river, etc.: to fall in the form of a waterfall)

wikipedia: Iguazu Falls

cataract en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˈkætəˌɹæk(t)/ (General-American)
• /ˈkætəɹækt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Late Middle English cataract, cataracta, cateract, cateracte (“(medicine) clouding of the lens in the eye”), from Old French cataracte (“clouding of the lens in the eye”), and then either: * from its etymon Latin cataracta (“portcullis”) (in the sense of something blocking vision as a portcullis blocks a gateway), from Ancient Greek καταρ(ρ)άκτης (katar(rh)áktēs, “act of rushing down; portcullis”) (see further at etymology 1); or * from clāthrāta (in fenestra clāthrāta (“window grating”)), an inflected form of clāthrātus (“grated, latticed, clathrate”), from clāthrī (“grate, lattic”) + -ātus (suffix denoting possession of something, forming adjectives from nouns). Clāthrī is derived from Doric Greek κλᾷθρα (klāîthra), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kleh₂w- (“crook, hook; peg; to close something”).

Meanings

1. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of portcullis (“a gate in the form of a grating which is lowered into place at the gateway of a castle, a fort, etc.”); also, a window grating.
   • Others did fortifie and rampire their Walls, […] assured the Port-culleys, fasten'd the Herses, Sarasinesks and Cataracks, placed their Centries, and doubled their Patrouilee. 1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], “The Author’s Prologue to the Third Book”, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume I, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 315:
2. (broadly) A clouding of the lens in the eye leading to a decrease in vision.
   • Shallow, this is what I created / Splayed out skeletons in the cracks in the pavement / And now, can you feel the injection back behind those cloudy eyes? / In-between every cataract, a projection of my life 2022 June 22, “Rotoscope”, in Rotoscope (Rise 510-1), performed by Spiritbox, Beaverton, Or.: Rise Records:
   • Rarely, a dense, swollen neglected cataract precipitates an angle-closure glaucoma. 1999, Cynthia Mattox, Helen K. Wu, Joel S. Schuman, “Ocular Disorders of Aging”, in Joseph J. Gallo, Jan Busby-Whitehead, Peter V. Rabins, Rebecca A. Silliman, John B. Murphy, William Reichel, editors, Reichel’s Care of the Elderly: Clinical Aspects of Aging, 5th edition, Philadelphia, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, →ISBN, section I (Care of the Elderly Patient: Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Management), page 563, column 2:
   • [T]her is a Caratact which doth light vpon the eyes of a Hawke, whome we may tearme a ſuffuſion, a miſchiefe not ſafely remoued, and diuers times impoſſible to be recured, as namely whẽ [when] it is growen too thicke, and ouerlong hath bin ſuffered in the eye, without ſeeking remedie for it: […] 1575, George Turberuile [i.e.. George Turberville], “Of the Cataract in the Eyes of a Hawke”, in The Booke of Faulconrie or Hauking, for the Onely Delight and Pleasure of All Noblemen and Gentlemen: […], London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC, page 235:
3. (broadly, figuratively) A clouding of the lens in the eye leading to a decrease in vision. ▸ Something which obscures.
   • Thoſe filmes vvhich darkened the eye of the mindes, are remoued, thoſe thicke Cataracts of earthly vanities are diſperſed and diſpelled, and a nevv light into a nevv heart infuſed. 1631, Richard Brathwait, “Decency”, in The English Gentlewoman, Drawne out to the Full Body: […], London: […] B. Alsop and T. Fawcet, for Michaell Sparke, […], →OCLC, page 86:
4. (broadly, obsolete) A tool used for breaking flax; a brake.
   • Some modern Pantagruelists, to shun and avoid that manual Labour, which such a separating and partitional Work would of necessity require, employ certain Catarratick Instruments, […] and athwart those Cataracts they break and bruise to very Trash the woody parcels [of the fictional herb “pantagruelion”], thereby to preserve the better the Fibres, which are the precious and excellent parts. 1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], “How the Famous Pantagruelion ought to be Prepared and Wrought”, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume II, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 60:

Forms

Deriveds

postcataract · aftercataract · cataractogenous · nuclear cataract · cataractal · anticataract · cataractogenic · cataractogenesis · cataractous

Synonyms

portcullis

Translations (72)

pl bielmo (clouding of the lens in the eye) · fa آبمروارید (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sw mtoto wa jicho (clouding of the lens in the eye) · zu umthuqu (clouding of the lens in the eye) · tr akbasma (clouding of the lens in the eye) · de grauer Star (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sh мре̏на (clouding of the lens in the eye) · he תְּבַלּוּל (clouding of the lens in the eye) · hu szürke hályog (clouding of the lens in the eye) · id katarak (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ilo busa (clouding of the lens in the eye) · nl grijze staar (clouding of the lens in the eye) · pl blachmal (clouding of the lens in the eye) · gd neul-sùla (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ivv ruhaw (clouding of the lens in the eye) · es catarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · km ទឹកធ្លាក់ (clouding of the lens in the eye) · da katarakt (clouding of the lens in the eye) · hu katarakta (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ru катара́кта (clouding of the lens in the eye) · gl pano (clouding of the lens in the eye) · vi cườm khô (clouding of the lens in the eye) · tr perde (clouding of the lens in the eye) · pt catarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · it cataratta (clouding of the lens in the eye) · tl katarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · bg катарáкт (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ko 백내장 (clouding of the lens in the eye) · bcl muting (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sv katarakt (clouding of the lens in the eye) · da grå stær (clouding of the lens in the eye) · el καταρράκτης (clouding of the lens in the eye) · gl belida (clouding of the lens in the eye) · gl catarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · cs katarakta (clouding of the lens in the eye) · da katarakt (clouding of the lens in the eye) · cmn 白內障 /白内障 (clouding of the lens in the eye) · fi kaihi (something which obscures) · cs šedý zákal (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sh mrȅna (clouding of the lens in the eye) · nv anázhiin yiibaʼ (clouding of the lens in the eye) · hu hályog (clouding of the lens in the eye) · uk катара́кта (clouding of the lens in the eye) · tr aksu (clouding of the lens in the eye) · fi kaihi (clouding of the lens in the eye) · cy niwlen (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ceb katarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · shn တေႃႈ (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ja 白内障 (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ml തിമിരം (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ceb katarak (clouding of the lens in the eye) · fr cataracte (clouding of the lens in the eye) · de Katarakt (clouding of the lens in the eye) · grc γλαύκωμα (clouding of the lens in the eye) · txb surme (clouding of the lens in the eye) · th ต้อกระจก (clouding of the lens in the eye) · nl cataract (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sk sivý zákal (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ms katarak (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ga fionn (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ca cataracta (clouding of the lens in the eye) · eo katarakto (clouding of the lens in the eye) · bg перде́ (clouding of the lens in the eye) · tr katarakt (clouding of the lens in the eye) · mk перде (clouding of the lens in the eye) · fo eygnastar (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sk katarakta (clouding of the lens in the eye) · enm cataract (clouding of the lens in the eye) · sv grå starr (clouding of the lens in the eye) · bcl katarata (clouding of the lens in the eye) · is ský á auga (clouding of the lens in the eye) · ta பூ (clouding of the lens in the eye)