Defn: A natural or artificial purgation of any passage, as of the mouth, bowels, etc.
CATHARTIC; CATHARICAL
Ca*thar"tic, Ca*thar"ic*al, a. Etym: [Gr. chaste.]
1. (Med.)
Defn: Cleansing the bowels; promoting evacuations by stool; purgative.
2. Of or pertaining to the purgative principle of senna, as cathartic acid.
CATHARTIC
Ca*thar"tic, n. Etym: [Gr. (Med.)
Defn: 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.
CATHARTIN ca*thar"tin, n. (Chem.)
Defn: The bitter, purgative principle of senna. It is a glucoside with the properties of a weak acid; — called also cathartic acid, and cathartina.