Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An ancient defensive armor composed of scales of metal or other material sewed to a garment of leather or stuff, and covering often the whole body and the limbs, but not the head, upon which a helmet of another material was placed. Horses were also covered with the same defensive armor. This dress was associated by Romans of the early empire with eastern nations, such as the Parthians and Sarmatians.
- n. In zoology, the armor of plates or strong scales protecting some animals.
- Fenced in; provided with bulwarks or a protecting covering; covered; protected: as, a cataphract war-galley.
- Same as cataphracted.
Wiktionary
- n. Defensive armor used for the entire body and often for the horse, also, especially the linked mail or scale armor of some eastern nations.
- n. A horseman covered with a cataphract.
- n. The armor or plate covering some fishes.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Mil. Antiq.) Defensive armor used for the whole body and often for the horse, also, esp. the linked mail or scale armor of some eastern nations.
- n. A horseman covered with a cataphract.
- n. (Zoöl.) The armor or plate covering some fishes.
WordNet 3.0
- n. armor that protects the wearer's whole body
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, "fully covered, protected, fully armored"); from κατά ("fully, completely") + φρακτός ("fenced, protected"), from φράσσω ("I fence/secure/fortify, I block") (Wiktionary)
Examples
“It also received several blows of the sword on the face, but, wearing as it did a cataphract made of sinew, it was not hurt, nor were the blows effective.”
“One day a cataphract sent his jack, Voro by name, with a question: Has my wife taken a lover?”
“One of the guests seated before me was a cataphract named Sire Vafra, a follower of King Corvus.”
“Galan had chosen to fight, though he knew as well as anyone that a cataphract without a horse draws enemies as a carcass draws flies.”
“In the morning a cataphract from Ardor had the audacity to stare at Sire Galan as he marched along.”
“He spoke to one cataphract or another to give them encouragement, but he had not the ease to make other men easy, as our king did—had done, when he was alive.”
“He said Sire Galan had spoken up when this cataphract eyed him, saying he wondered why he gazed so discourteously.”
“The cataphract and armiger were given more honorable deaths.”
“One cataphract from the clan of Lynx slipped away with his armiger, horseboy, and jack, and when he was caught the king made no more speeches of good riddance.”
“In those old "aphract" vessels the upper tier of rowers had to sit exposed on their benches with no real protection from the enemy's darts; but in the new "cataphract" ships like the "Invincible" there is a stout solid bulwark built up to shield the oarsmen from hostile sight and missiles alike.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cataphract’.
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Additional 250 Spelling Words
Words for the diehard intermediate and advanced spellers
facetiae, sagittary, anthophilous, hydromancy, pandect, carillonneur, tabbouleh, litterateur, windgall, pinguid, tressure, moderne and 238 more...
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defense
shield, aegis, armor, cuirass, plastron, inured, reinforced, cataphract, proof, targus, buckler, shield bearer and 123 more...
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Muse's tacet ,to learn
Music brings silence's to raging thoughts and temperament , calm, as it is our object of definite purpose.
tacet, cadence, tempo, treble clef, penultimate, lexicon, origin, orchestra, kantele, magus, eros, coalesce and 248 more...
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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phrontistery - c
from phrontistery.info
czardas, cytometer, cytology, cytheromania, cystoscope, cystolith, cyrenaic, cypseline, cyprinoid, cyphonism, cynophobia, cytogenesis and 1298 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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cata-, cat-, kata-
down(ward), wrongly or badly, completely, against
catadromous, catastrophe, katabatic, catachresis, cataclysm, catapult, catatonic, catatonia, catawampus, catalyst, catabolic, catabolism and 24 more...
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Uncle John’s Interesting Words
Words I find interesting.
abecedarius, acomoclitic, aperçu, apophenia, aspic, bêtise, bhang, callipygian, calque, carking, cataphract, ceruminous and 97 more...
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Monovocalics
Words that have only one of the vowels. On this list I include only words with at least three vowels. When I first started the list, if a word had several forms, I generally listed only the one wit...
syzygy, mirific, cumulus, homolog, monocot, bedewed, jezebel, referee, bikini, minikin, locomotor, terebenthene and 2359 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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I love you for your sound
loquacious, bumble, klaxon, rhythmicity, lexicon, ghastly, liquidation, labradorescence, springtide, foist, Herculean, cankerblossom and 77 more...
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Roman Gladiators
laquearius, hoplomachus, parmula, thraex, murmillo, secutor, retiarius, paegniarius, subligaculum, balteus, greave, manica and 36 more...
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Hannibal
punic, ba'al, toffit, molech, cognate, moabite, pathogen, apologist, legate, shoals, immolate, emnity and 41 more...
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VanishedOne's Words
facipulator, fetiphobia, gules, boustrophedon, reverse boustroph..., unreal, ensiform, xiphoid, romhack, heritage, floccinaucinihili..., johnian and 1004 more...
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