<B>catallactics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the science of exchanges (formerly used as a designation of political economy or economics). </DL>
<A NAME="catalo">
<B>catalo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-loes</B> or <B>-los.</B> =cattalo.</DL>
<A NAME="catalog">
<B>catalog, </B>noun, transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-loged,</B> <B>-loging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a list of items in some collection. A catalog either identifies each item very briefly or describes it more fully. A library has a catalog of its books, arranged in alphabetical order. <DD><B> 2a. </B>a book or pamphlet containing such a list. <BR> <I>Ex. A company sometimes prints a catalog with pictures and prices of the things that it sells.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(U.S.) a volume or booklet issued by a college or university listing rules, courses to be given, faculty, fees, and other descriptions of the institution. In Great Britain a catalog is called a <I>prospectus</I> or <I>calendar.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) any list or series. <BR> <I>Ex. a catalog of misfortunes.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=register.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make a list of. <BR> <I>Ex. He cataloged all the insects in his collection.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to put in a catalog. <BR> <I>Ex. Birds are cataloged under natural history.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make a catalog. </DL>
<A NAME="cataloger">
<B>cataloger, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who catalogs, such as a librarian who enters books acquired in a catalog. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who makes a catalog. <BR> <I>Ex. Many of the cases of disappearing stars arise from catalogers recording stars where none existed.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catalogist">
<B>catalogist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who catalogs. Also, <B>cataloguist.</B> </DL>
<B>catalpa, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tree of North America, West Indies, and Asia with large, heart-shaped leaves, clusters of bell-shaped flowers, and long pods. It belongs to the bignonia family. </DL>
<B>catalysis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the regulation of a chemical reaction by the presence of a catalyst. </DL>
<A NAME="catalyst">
<B>catalyst, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a substance that causes a chemical reaction while itself remaining practically unchanged. <BR> <I>Ex. Catalysts are properly defined as substances that regulate the rate at which chemical reactions proceed. Some catalysts accelerate reactions ... Other catalysts slow reactions. Examples of both types exist ... within the cells and fluids of living organisms, where they are known as enzymes (Scientific American).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person or thing that brings about some change or changes, without being directly affected itself. <BR> <I>Ex. The talent agent is the catalyst who brings performers and jobs together (Wall Street Journal). Job dissatisfaction and severe unemployment are catalysts to violence rather than primary causes (Morton Salkind).</I> <DD> Also, <B>catalyzer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catalytic">
<B>catalytic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of catalysis. <BR> <I>Ex. The fuel is self-igniting and is broken down by catalytic action into water (Newsweek).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>causing catalysis. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) causing change without being directly affected itself. <BR> <I>Ex. Nuclear physics ... has exerted a strong catalytic influence on developments in science (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a catalyst. adv. <B>catalytically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catalytical">
<B>catalytical, </B>adjective. =catalytic.</DL>
<A NAME="catalyticantibody">
<B>catalytic antibody,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an enzyme that is designed to speed chemical reactions in certain substances in an organism. <BR> <I>Ex. Scientists have designed many catalytic antibodies known also as abzymes (Science News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catalyticconverter">
<B>catalytic converter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a device in automobiles which contains a chemical catalyst to oxidize exhaust gases, converting them into harmless products. It has also been used to oxidize smoke exhaust from chimneys. </DL>
<A NAME="catalyticcracker">
<B>catalytic cracker,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the apparatus or device used for catalytic cracking; cat cracker. </DL>
<A NAME="catalyticcracking">
<B>catalytic cracking,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a method of breaking down the heavy hydrocarbons in petroleum into lighter ones by the use of alumina-silica mixtures, certain types of clay, or other catalysts. Catalytic cracking produces more gasoline of higher octane than thermal cracking does. </DL>
<A NAME="catalyze">
<B>catalyze, </B>transitive verb, <B>-lyzed,</B> <B>-lyzing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to act upon by catalysis. <BR> <I>Ex. This enzyme catalyzes, or sparks, the transfer of oxygen from hydrogen peroxide or other peroxides to another substance (Science News Letter).</I> noun <B>catalyzer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catamaran">
<B>catamaran, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>a boat with two hulls side by side joined by crosspieces. <DD><B> b. </B>a raft made of pieces of wood lashed together. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) a cross, quarrelsome person, especially a woman. </DL>
<A NAME="catamenia">
<B>catamenia, </B>noun. =menstruation.</DL>
<A NAME="catamenial">
<B>catamenial, </B>adjective. =menstrual.</DL>
<A NAME="catamite">
<B>catamite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a boy kept for unnatural purposes. </DL>
<A NAME="catamount">
<B>catamount, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>any one of several wild animals of the cat family, especially the cougar. (So called by early settlers in eastern North America.) <DD><B> b. </B>a wildcat, such as a lynx. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=catamountain.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catamountain">
<B>catamountain, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any wild animal of the cat family, such as the European wildcat, leopard, cougar, or lynx. Also, <B>cat-o'-mountain.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catanddog">
<B>cat-and-dog, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> full of strife; quarrelsome. <BR> <I>Ex. During Franklin D. Roosevelt's Presidency, ... Wall Street and Washington tended to be on cat-and-dog terms (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catandmouse">
<B>cat-and-mouse, </B>noun, or <B>cat-and-mouse game,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an act or situation in which one person, a group of people, or an animal has another in his power, teasing and harassing him for a time before disposing of him. <BR><I>expr. <B>play cat-and-mouse,</B> </I>to engage in a cat-and-mouse game. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] had hidden in the squalid back alleys of Athens, playing cat-and-mouse with police, while he and his illegal spy ring sent information across the border (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catapan">
<B>catapan, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a high official who governed Calabria and Apulia in the south of Italy under the Byzantine emperors. </DL>
<A NAME="catapetalous">
<B>catapetalous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) having the petals united only through their cohesion to the base of a column of united stamens, as in the mallow. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphonic">
<B>cataphonic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with reflected sound. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphonics">
<B>cataphonics, </B>noun. =catacoustics.</DL>
<A NAME="cataphoresis">
<B>cataphoresis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) the causing of medicinal substances to pass through or into living tissues in the direction of flow of a positive electric current. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphoretic">
<B>cataphoretic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of cataphoresis; having to do with or resembling cataphoresis. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphract">
<B>cataphract, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ancient defensive armor composed of scales of metal attached to a garment of leather or other material, often covering the whole body. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphyll">
<B>cataphyll, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) any scalelike leaf which precedes a stage of growth, as the cotyledons of an embryo, or the scales of a bud or rhizome. </DL>
<A NAME="cataphyllary">
<B>cataphyllary, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the nature of a cataphyll. </DL>
<A NAME="cataplasia">
<B>cataplasia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a form of atrophy involving the regression of tissues to a less developed condition. </DL>
<A NAME="cataplasm">
<B>cataplasm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a poultice, especially one applied hot. </DL>
<A NAME="cataplectic">
<B>cataplectic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with cataplexy. </DL>
<A NAME="catapleiite">
<B>catapleiite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a hydrous silicate of zirconium and sodium, occurring in hexagonal opaque crystals of light yellowish-brown color. </DL>
<A NAME="cataplexy">
<B>cataplexy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a loss of muscular power and control without loss of consciousness, usually in an attack of a few seconds only. </DL>
