CATARACT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Cataract

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/kˈætərækt/ Listen

noun

Cataract n.

A great fall of water over a precipice; a large waterfall.

(Surg.) An opacity of the crystalline lens, or of its capsule, which prevents the passage of the rays of light and impairs or destroys the sight.

(Mach.) A kind of hydraulic brake for regulating the action of pumping engines and other machines; sometimes called dashpot.

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Etymology of 'Cataract'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cataract" Quotes from Famous Books

... cateract and cascade I discovered that the bluffs grew lower or that the bed of the river rose nearer to a level with the plains. still pursuing the river with it's course about S. W. passing a continued sene of rappids and small cascades, at the distance of 21/2 miles I arrived at another cataract of 26 feet. this is not immediately perpendicular, a rock about 1/3 of it's decent seems to protrude to a small distance and receives the water in it's passage downwards and gives a curve to the water tho it falls mostly with a regular and smoth sheet. the river ...

— The Journals of Lewis and Clark • Meriwether Lewis et al

... rushing flood, The cataract's swell, the moaning wood; The undefined and mingled hums— Voice of the desert never dumb! All these have left within this heart A feeling tongue can ne'er impart; A wildered and unearthly flame, A something that's ...

— The Lost Trail - I • Edward S. Ellis

... invading torrent with bubbling roar, blowing forth great streams of spray. This was a war of matter, a battle of the elements to thrill with pleasure the hearts of strong men. But with one's love in the seething gulf of the whirlpool, what would be to him the sublime cataract? What, to see amid the boiling foam the upturned face, and the dear, tender body of one's own and only poor dear love, all mangled? You might agonize on the brink; but Makakehau sprang into the dreadful pool and snatched his murdered ...

— Hawaiian Folk Tales - A Collection of Native Legends • Various

... the sail she was under, the atmosphere seemed to be suddenly filled with a strange light, the sea became white all around them, and a roar of tumbling waters arose, that resembled the sound of a small cataract. The ship was evidently in the midst of breakers, and the next ...

— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... drip of widening waters seemed to weep, All fountains sobbed and gurgled as they sprang, Somewhere a cataract cried out in its leap Sheer down a headlong steep; High over ...

— Poems • Christina G. Rossetti

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