Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Cathartic"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cathartic \Ca*thar"tic\, Catharical \Ca*thar"ic*al\, a. [Gr. ?,
fr. ? to cleanse, fr. ? pure; akin to F. chaste.]
1. (Med.) Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by
stool; purgative.
2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna, as
cathartic acid.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cathartic \Ca*thar"tic\, n. [Gr. ?.] (Med.)
A medicine that promotes alvine discharges; a purge; a
purgative of moderate activity.
Note: The cathartics are more energetic and certain in action
that the laxatives, which simply increase the tendency
to alvine evacuation; and less powerful and irritaint
that the drastic purges, which cause profuse, repeated,
and watery evacuations. -- {Ca*thar"tic*al*ly}, adv. --
{Ca*thar"tic*al*ness}, n.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
cathartic
adj 1: emotionally purging [syn: {psychotherapeutic}]
2: emotionally purging (of e.g. art) [syn: {releasing}]
3: strongly laxative [syn: {evacuant}, {purgative}]
n : a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels
[syn: {purgative}, {physic}, {aperient}]
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