Ca*thar"tic (?), Ca*thar"ic*al (?), 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.

 

© Webster 1913.