catapeltic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: kă'təpĕlʹtĭk
ipa: /ˌkætəˈpɛltɪk/
rhymes: -ɛltɪk
Etymology: PIE word
 *ḱóm
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κᾰτᾰπελτῐκός (kătăpeltĭkós, “of or for a catapult”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Κᾰτᾰπελτῐκός (Kătăpeltĭkós) is derived from κᾰτᾰπέλτης (kătăpéltēs) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns); while κᾰτᾰπέλτης (kătăpéltēs) is a literary form of κᾰτᾰπᾰ́λτης (kătăpắltēs, “catapult; torture instrument”), from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘against’) + πάλλω (pállō, “to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown; to brandish a weapon; (passive) to swing or dash oneself”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat; to drive; to push”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming masculine agent nouns).
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: [T]he superior discipline and skill of the Romans were fully compensated by the strength of position and the catapeltic engines of the Macedonians.
ref: 1835, William Martin Leake, “Illyria, Epirus”, in Travels in Northern Greece. […], volume I, London: J. Rodwell, […], →OCLC, page 386:
text: [Dionysius, governor of the Cassandrian garrison of Munychia] held out valiantly for two days; but at length the superior forces of the enemy, and the mischief done by their catapeltic engines, drove the defenders from the walls, when Demetrius [of Phalerum] entered the fortress, Dionysius was taken, and his garrison laid down their arms: […]
ref: 1841, William Martin Leake, “Section IX. Of Maritime Athens, and Its Divisions, Peiræeus, Munychia, and Phalerum.—Their Harbours, Monuments, and Fortifications.”, in The Topography of Athens. With Some Remarks on Its Antiquities, 2nd edition, London: […] J. Rodwell, […], →OCLC, page 409:
text: The western or outer, which was the narrowest front of the fortress, consisted of four towers of solid regular masonry connected by walls of equal breadth, but lower than the towers, so that balistic or catapeltic engines might be mounted upon the walls between the towers, like cannon in embrasures.
ref: 1848 February 24 – March 23, William Martin Leake, “VII.—Topographical and Historical Notes on Syracuse.”, in Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom, volume III (Second Series), London: John Murray, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 255:
text: Has not the pulpit, which was ordained to the exhibition of Christ crucified as the Healer of human woe, been made the arena of inflammatory debate, the platform of catapeltic controversy, destructive rather than conservative, more the instrument of the Furies than of the Graces?
ref: 1859, Baron Stow, “Considerations that Render Christian Union Desirable”, in Christian Brotherhood: A Letter to the Hon. Heman Lincoln, Boston, Mass.: Gould and Lincoln, […], →OCLC, pages 64–65:
text: It missed the other's jaw by two inches, that catapeltic blow—striking him full in the mouth, breaking his yellow teeth and smashing his thick lips so that the blood sprang out in a spray over his hairy chest, and as his head rocked backward David followed with a swift left-hander, and a second time missed the jaw with his right—but drenched his clenched fist in blood.
ref: 1918, James Oliver Curwood, chapter XXIV, in The Courage of Marge O’Doone, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Co., […], →OCLC, page 263:
text: Today I will transform you into a catapeltic arrow, / and I'll send you spinning like a missile from a catapult.
ref: 2010, Michael Fontaine, “Equivocation and Other Ambiguities”, in Funny Words in Plautine Comedy, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 118:
topics: engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
synonyms: catapultic
glosses: Pertaining to a catapult or catapults.
Related terms: catapult
catapultic