cătăracta — Lewis & Short
cătăracta (also cătarracta), ae, f. (cătarractes, ae, m., Plin. and Sol.;
I v. the foll.), = o( katarra/kths or katara/kths.
I Lit., a waterfall, in gen.; the waterfalls of the Euphrates, Plin. 5, 24, 20, § 85.—Hence,
B Meton. and kat' e)coxh/u, the celebrated fall of the Nile on the southern borders of Egypt, the Cataract:
novissimo catarracte,Plin. 5, 9, 10, § 54.—Acc. catarracten, Plin. 5, 9, 10, § 59; Sol. 32:
pervenit ad cataractam,Vitr. 8, 2, 6.—Plur. fem.:
cataractae, nobilis insigni spectaculo locus,Sen. Q. N. 4, 2, 4:
praecipites cataractae,Luc. 10, 317; Amm. 22, 15, 9.—
II In milit. lang., a drawbridge, portcullis, Veg. Mil. 4, 4; Liv. 27, 28, 10 and 11.—
III A water-sluice, floodgate, Plin. Ep. 10, 61 (69), 4; Rutil. 1, 481 Zumpt.—
IV A waterbird (that pounces down quickly), Plin. 10, 44, 61, § 126.