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catastrophe|kəˈtæstrəfɪ|
Also 7 catastrophy.
[a. Gr. καταστροϕή overturning, sudden turn, conclusion, f. κατα-στρέϕειν to overturn, etc., f. κατά down + στρέϕειν to turn.]
1. ‘The change or revolution which produces the conclusion or final event of a dramatic piece’ (J.); the dénouement.
1579E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. May, Gloss., This tale is much like to that in Aesops fables, but the catastrophe and ende is farre different. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. iii. x. 44 marg., A comicall catastrophe. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. i. (Arb.) 21 Sad is the plot, sad the Catastrophe. 1616R. C. Times' Whis. (1871) 111 Thou shalt be the protasis and catastrophe of my epistle. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth II. 157 That happy catastrophe and last scene which is to crown the work. 1714Gay What d'ye call it Pref., They deny it to be Tragical, because its Catastrophe is a Wedding. a1876J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. I. i. iii. 158 Such was the catastrophe of this long and anxious drama.
2. ‘A final event; a conclusion generally unhappy’ (J.); a disastrous end, finish-up, conclusion, upshot; overthrow, ruin, calamitous fate.
1601Shakes. All's Well i. ii. 57 On the Catastrophe and heele of pastime When it was out. 1609R. Armin Ital. Taylor (1880) 194 Thinking to deuower And worke my liues Catastrophy. 1628Mead in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 343 III. 265 This was the obscure catastrophe of that great man. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 251 The late war, and its horrid catastrophe. 1678Littleton Lat. Dict., A Catastrophe or upshot of a business, catastrophe exitus. 1728Morgan Algiers II. iii. 256 This catastrophe had the brave Barbarossa and all his vast Designs. 1783Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. iv. 128 The catastrophe of that siege is well known. 1850W. Irving Mahomet II. 290 This miserable catastrophe to a miserable career.
†b. humorously. The posteriors. Obs.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 66 Away you Scullion..Ile tickle your catastrophe.
3. An event producing a subversion of the order or system of things.
1696Month. Mercury VII. 91 The Consternation and Confusion..upon such a sudden Catastrophy. 1717De Foe Hist. Ch. Scot. (1844) 5 Her many Revolutions, Convulsions, and Catastrophes. 1871Farrar Witn. Hist. iii. 92 God reveals His will not by sudden catastrophes and violent revolutions.
b. esp. in Geol. A sudden and violent change in the physical order of things, such as a sudden upheaval, depression, or convulsion affecting the earth's surface, and the living beings upon it, by which some have supposed that the successive geological periods were suddenly brought to an end. (Cf. cataclysm, catastrophism.)
1832Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 89, II. 160. 1858 Whewell Novum Org. Renov. 25 (L.) There are, in the palætiological sciences, two antagonist doctrines: catastrophes and uniformity. 1887Spectator 7 May 626/1 No geologist of repute now believes that mountain-ranges originated in catastrophes.
4. A sudden disaster, wide-spread, very fatal, or signal. (In the application of exaggerated language to misfortunes it is used very loosely.)
1748Anson Voy. iii. ii. (ed. 4) 429 Thus were we all..reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe. 1795Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 289 The public catastrophe was actually completed by the actual recall of Lord F. 1855Motley Dutch Rep. (1861) II. 270 An inundation, more tremendous than any..recorded in those annals so prolific in such catastrophes. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xiii. 131 This fishery is fearfully hazardous; scarcely a year passes without a catastrophe. Mod. Our hostess was immensely relieved that dinner had gone off without any catastrophe. My luggage has not arrived: what a catastrophe!
Add:5. Special Comb. catastrophe theory Math., the topological description of systems which display abrupt discontinuous change.
[1969R. Thom in Topology VIII. 319 It is not too difficult a task to find all possible singularities V(x) of finite codimension not exceeding four. These singularities are important, because they may appear on our space–time in a structurally stable way. They give rise to what we call the ‘elementary catastrophes’, when we interpret them as describing dynamical fields on our space–time.] 1971Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Dec. 1557/3 Another interesting feature of *catastrophe theory is called the divergence effect. 1973Internat. Jrnl. Neurosci. VI. 39/1 We can explicitly use catastrophe theory to explain and predict psychological phenomena. 1987Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. XXXVIII. 503 Catastrophe theory is itself said to be in a catastrophic state. 1992S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 294/1 Gravitational optics has an important connection with the branch of mathematics known as catastrophe theory. |