cathartic : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: cathartic	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for cathartic
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
cathartic adj emotionally purging [syn: cathartic, psychotherapeutic] emotionally purging (of e.g. art) Synonym(s): cathartic, releasing strongly laxative Synonym(s): cathartic, evacuant, purgative n a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels Synonym(s): purgative, cathartic, physic, aperient
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Cathartic \Cathar"tic\, Catharical \Cathar"ical\, 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 \Cathar"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. -- {Cathar"tically}, adv. -- {Cathar"tical*ness}, n.