From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcataractcat‧a‧ract /ˈkætərækt/ noun [countable] 1 MIa medical condition that causes the lens of your eye to become white, so that you slowly lose your sight2 literaryDN a large waterfall
Examples from the Corpus
cataract• Locust Abortion Technician was a glorious mire, a glistening palace of ordure, a cataract of dysentery.• Some conditions such as cataract can be operated on.• Hydrogel contact lenses, for example, can be used for the controlled release of antibiotics to patients waiting for cataract surgery.• As such it became almost as famous as the great cataract itself for which the Porter family assumed a proprietary interest.• People who need cataract surgery are taken by bus to the nearest hospital for surgery, and returned home the next day.• He studied the hydraulics of the cataract and the sculptural look of the cliffs.• Church had managed for the first time to capture the awesome power of the cataract.• Here the current is so strong that the shape of the cataract is constantly changing.Origin cataract 1. (1400-1500) Latin cataracta “waterfall, castle gate that drops from above”, from Greek, from katarassein “to strike down”, from kata- ( → CATACLYSM) + arassein “to strike”; 2. because a cataract blocks sight like a gate coming down 