CATARACT • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • 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

... a blue chin and the latency of a fine brogue, was either Lysander or Demetrius; Mr. Davidge (also, I surmise, with a brogue) was Bottom the weaver and Madame Ponisi Oberon—Madame Ponisi whose range must have been wide, since I see her also as the white-veiled heroine of The Cataract of the Ganges, where, preferring death to dishonour, she dashes up the more or less perpendicular waterfall on a fiery black steed and with an effect only a little blighted by the chance flutter of a drapery out of which peeps the leg of a trouser and a big male foot; and then again, ...

— A Small Boy and Others • Henry James

... done under the authority of chapter 169 of the Laws of 1895. The point on the Minnesota side is called Taylor's Falls, and on the Wisconsin side St. Croix Falls. Between these two towns the St. Croix river rushes rapidly, forming a cataract of great beauty. The bluffs are precipitate and rocky, forming a narrow gorge through which the river plunges. The name of the river is French, "Sainte Croix," meaning "The holy cross," and the name of this particular point, the "Dalles," was given on account of the curious formation of the ...

— The History of Minnesota and Tales of the Frontier • Charles E. Flandrau

... which was the farthest point he reached upon the Orinoco. This island lies at the mouth of the Caroni, the great southern artery of the watershed, and Raleigh's final expedition was made up this stream. He reached the foot of the great cataract, now named Salto Caroni, and his description of this noble natural wonder may be quoted as a favourable instance of his style, and as the ...

— Raleigh • Edmund Gosse

... Where the great cataract sends up to heaven Its sprayey incense in perpetual cloud, Thy wings in twain the sacred bow have riven, And onward sailed irreverently proud! Unflinching bird! No frigid clime congeals The fervid blood that riots in thy veins; No torrid sun ...

— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXIII No. 2 August 1848 • Various

... me the wise man might have gone farther in his enumeration of the folly and emptiness of life, and pronounced his own prescription for the evil vanity also. What is it but plucking flowers on the banks of the stream which hurries us over the cataract, or feasting on the thin crust of a volcano upon delicate meats prepared over the fires which are soon to ingulf us? Oh, what a glorious contrast to this is the gospel of Him who brought to light life and immortality! The transition ...

— The Complete Works of Whittier - The Standard Library Edition with a linked Index • John Greenleaf Whittier

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