<B>caswellite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an altered form of biotite, occurring as a micaceous mineral of a copper-red color. </DL>
<A NAME="cat">
<B>cat</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>catted,</B> <B>catting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a small, four-footed, furry mammal, often kept as a pet or for catching mice and rats. <BR> <I>Ex. The neighbors took in a stray cat. The mechanism which enables us to experience colour is lacking in cats (Katharine Tansley).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any animal of the group including cats, lions, tigers, and leopards. <DD><B> c. </B>an animal resembling a cat. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a mean, spiteful woman. <DD><B> 3. </B>the skin or fur of a cat. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=catfish.</B> <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=cat-o'-nine-tails.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B>a tackle for hoisting an anchor. <DD><B> 7. </B><B>=catboat.</B> <DD><B> 8. </B>in games: <DD><B> a. </B>(Especially British.) <DD><B> (1). </B>the small, tapered stick struck in playing tipcat. <DD><B> (2). </B>the game of tipcat. <DD><B> (3). </B>(Obsolete.) the longer stick used as a bat in tipcat. <DD><B> b. </B>a ball game not between teams. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>a jazz admirer or musician; hepcat. <BR> <I>Ex. The hottest cats in Bucharest--longhair cats at that--are the combo that makes up the jazz symphony orchestra (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>any man; fellow; guy. <BR> <I>Ex. When Earl and another cat named Onion started to get into the drug thing, nobody really had ... to say much about it (Harper's).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to hoist (an anchor) and fasten to a beam on the ship's side. <DD><B> 2. </B>to flog with the cat-o'-nine-tails. <DD><I>v.i. </I> (British Slang.) to vomit. <BR><I>expr. <B>bell the cat,</B> </I>to undertake to do something dangerous. <BR> <I>Ex. Who will bell the cat? Clearly the U.N. was in no position to "bell" such a formidable and predatory cat.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>cat around,</B> </I>(Slang.) to seek aimlessly for amusement. <BR> <I>Ex. Instead of finding a job, he wasted his time catting around.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>let the cat out of the bag,</B> </I>to tell a secret. <BR> <I>Ex. It was supposed to be a surprise party, but he said something that let the cat out of the bag.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>put</B> (or <B>set</B>) <B>the cat among the pigeons,</B> </I>(British Informal.) to pit enemies against each other; set the stage for an inevitable fight. <BR> <I>Ex. [He] set the cat among the pigeons when he suggested ... that in certain circumstances a sovereign Government would be justified in breaking a contract with an oil concessionary (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>rain cats and dogs,</B> </I>to pour down rain very hard. <BR> <I>Ex. I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs (Jonathan Swift).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>the cat's pajamas</B> (or <B>whiskers</B>), </I>(Slang.) something considered outstanding; the most. <BR> <I>Ex. If you're a painter, you're ... the cat's pajamas, you are it (Delmore Schwartz). "It's a big advantage being English--they think I'm the cat's whiskers" (London Times).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>turn cat in the pan,</B> </I>to change one's views or position, or change sides, for personal advantage. <BR> <I>Ex. God saith, 'Cry, cease not', but they turn cat in the pan, and say 'Cease, cry not' (Thomas Becon).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>which way</B> (or <B>how</B>) <B>the cat jumps,</B> </I>what direction events are taking. <BR> <I>Ex. He understood so well which side his bread was buttered, and which way the cat jumped (Charles Kingsley).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cat">
<B>cat</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a caterpillar tractor. <BR> <I>Ex. The cats drag the logs to loading points, leaving deep gouges in the scarred earth (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<B>cat-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (prefix.) the form of <B>cata-</B> before vowels and <I>h,</I> as in <BR> <I>Ex. category, cathode.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cat">
<B>CAT</B> (no periods),<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>clear air turbulence. <BR> <I>Ex. CAT is not the usual turbulence associated with storms, but freakish vertical updrafts and downdrafts that occur without warning at the altitudes used by jets (Science News).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(British.) College of Advanced Technology. <DD><B> 3. </B>computerized axial tomography. See <B>CAT scan.</B> </DL>
<B>cata-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (prefix.) <DD><B> 1. </B>down; downward. <BR> <I>Ex. Catadromous = descending rivers to spawn (as eels).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>against. <BR> <I>Ex. Catapult = a weapon for hurling darts or missiles against a target.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>wrongly; amiss. <BR> <I>Ex. Catachresis = misuse (of words).</I> <DD> Also, <B>cat-,</B> before vowels and <I>h.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catabaptist">
<B>Catabaptist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who rejects the orthodox doctrine of baptism. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=Anabaptist.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catabasis">
<B>catabasis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a going down. </DL>
<A NAME="catabatic">
<B>catabatic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (especially of a fever or disease) going down or declining in intensity; subsiding. </DL>
<A NAME="catabolic">
<B>catabolic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or exhibiting catabolism. adv. <B>catabolically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catabolism">
<B>catabolism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the process of breaking down living tissues into simpler substances or waste matter, thereby producing energy. <BR> <I>Ex. There are two phases of metabolism; namely, the constructive phase or anabolism, and the destructive phase or catabolism (Heber W. Youngken).</I> (SYN) dissimilation. Also, <B>katabolism.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catabolite">
<B>catabolite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a product of catabolism. </DL>
<A NAME="catacaustic">
<B>catacaustic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> in optics: <DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with caustic curves formed by reflected light. <DD><I>noun </I> a caustic curve formed by the reflection of the rays of light. </DL>
<A NAME="catachresis">
<B>catachresis, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ses.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the misuse or strained use of words, as in an inconsistent metaphor. <DD><B> 2. </B>misuse of word elements, changing the form of a word. <BR> <I>Ex. As a result of catachresis it [the suffix -ish] then acquired the meaning 'having the bad qualities of' as in brutish, clownish, and foppish (Simeon Potter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catachrestic">
<B>catachrestic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or showing catachresis. adv. <B>catachrestically.</B> </DL>
<B>cataclasm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a break or disruption. </DL>
<A NAME="cataclinal">
<B>cataclinal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) descending with the dip of the geological strata (contrasted with <I>anaclinal</I>). <BR> <I>Ex. a cataclinal valley.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cataclysm">
<B>cataclysm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a great flood, earthquake, or any sudden, violent change in the earth. (SYN) calamity. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) any violent change or upheaval. <BR> <I>Ex. Atomic warfare between nations would be a cataclysm for all mankind. ... a day that has been designated by historians of the Wall Street cataclysm of that year as Black Thursday (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<B>cataclysmic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like a cataclysm; extremely sudden and violent. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) This sudden and cataclysmic shifting of power at the top came as a shock to the audience (Time).</I> adv. <B>cataclysmically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catacomb">
<B>catacomb, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> Usually, <B>catacombs.</B> an underground gallery forming a burial place, especially a network of such galleries with recesses in which to place the dead. </DL>
<A NAME="catacoustics">
<B>catacoustics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the science of reflected sound; cataphonics. </DL>
<A NAME="catadioptric">
<B>catadioptric, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> involving both reflection and refraction of light. <BR> <I>Ex. The Astroscope [a telescopic instrument] has the same catadioptric lens system astronomers use in their high-powered sky-mapping cameras (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<B>catadioptrics, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the branch of optics dealing with catadioptric phenomena. </DL>
<A NAME="catadromous">
<B>catadromous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> living in fresh water but going to salt water to spawn, as eels. </DL>
<A NAME="catafalque">
<B>catafalque, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a stand or platform to support a coffin in which a dead person lies. <DD><B> 2. </B>a structure resembling a coffin or tomb, sometimes used at Requiem Masses. <DD><B> 3. </B>a kind of open hearse or funeral car. </DL>
<A NAME="catagmatic">
<B>catagmatic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) having the property of consolidating broken parts; promoting the union of fractured bones. <BR> <I>Ex. a catagmatic powder, plaster, or medicine.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="catalan">
<B>Catalan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of Catalonia, a region in northeastern Spain, its people, or their language. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person born or living in Catalonia. <DD><B> 2. </B>the language spoken in Catalonia. It is a Romance language, closely related to Provencal. <BR> <I>Ex. Catalan is for him [Pablo Casals] the language of deepest intimacy (New Yorker).</I> <DD> Also, <B>Catalonian.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="catalase">
<B>catalase, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an enzyme, found in most living cells, which catalyzes the separation of hydrogen peroxide into gaseous oxygen and water. </DL>
<A NAME="catalectic">
<B>catalectic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> lacking one or more unstressed syllables in the last foot of a line of verse; incomplete. </DL>
<A NAME="catalepsis">
<B>catalepsis, </B>noun. <B>=catalepsy.</B></DL>
<A NAME="catalepsy">
<B>catalepsy, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a condition, usually associated with schizophrenia, in which a person's muscles become more or less rigid, and his arms and legs maintain any position in which they are placed. </DL>
