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cataphract

American  
[kat-uh-frakt] / ˈkæt əˌfrækt /

noun

  1. a heavily armed war galley of ancient Greece.

  2. a suit of ancient Roman scale armor for a man or horse.

  3. Zoology. the bony plates or scales covering the body of certain fishes or reptiles.

Other Word Forms

  • cataphractic adjective

Etymology

Origin of cataphract

1575–85; < Latin cataphractus fully armored < Greek katáphraktos (akin to kataphrássein to clothe fully in armor), equivalent to kata- cata- + phraktós fenced, protectively clothed ( phrag- fence + -tos verbal adjective suffix)

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Stegocephalous, steg-ō-sef′a-lus, adj. with the head mailed, loricate, cataphract.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.