catagraph

C3A1T1A1G2R1A1P3H4

noun

A rough draft of a picture; an outline or sketch.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

nouncatagraph (plural catagraphs)

plural catagraphs

  1. obsoleteA rough draft of a picture; an outline or sketch.

    till to A picture's first rude catagraph, the art Of an ingenious pencil doth impart Each complement of skill;

    1820, William Chamberlayne, Pharonnida - Volume 1, page 158
    2 more examples

    Somewhat maye this catagraph or portrature following serve to expresse the presentment of this great king Powhatan.

    1849, William Strachey, Richard Henry Major, The Historie of Travaile Into Virginia Britannia, page 53

    A score or more of bold, daedal strokes upon paper, and the corner-stone was laid of the edifice destined to contain George Weldon's brightest dreams, his "all of life," though it was only with the exultation of an artist, gloating over the acquisition of so fair a specimen, that he safely stowed away the catagraph which promised him so much, casting but little thought upon the fact that often "the things we make no account of have in them the seeds of life;"

    1876 May, Montgomery G. Preston, “May-Queen”, in Godey's Magazine, volume 92, number 551, page 433
  2. obsoleteA brief, incomplete description; an outline.

    These pages are only a catagraph after all.

    1865, Abby Buchanan Longstreet, Remy St. Remy, Or, The Boy in Blue, page 331
    3 more examples

    We have yet another to describe in our catagraph of the genus—the Snout. This is a nose concerning which there can be no mistake.

    1854, Robert Sears, The Family Instructor, Or, Digest of General Knowledge, page 156

    Reader, in this little volume— a catagraph— the career of Lafayette from early boyhood to his lamented death has been traced.

    1861, E. P. H., The Life and Services of Major-general

    The worthy Bishop, who lived very comfortably in his palace, and displayed a mild theoretical interest in missionary work, had been rather shocked by Markham's catagraph of horrors, and seemed anxious to counteract the pessimistic note which had dominated the conclusion of the address.

    1898, Charles Gleig -, The Edge of Honesty, page 142
  3. A structure made from the traces of canals or cavities believed to be produced by cyanophytes or bacteria during the Late Precambrian and Lower Cambrian eras.

    It is interesting that oncolites and catagraphs occur abundantly in limestones of the Schwarzkalk Limestone Member of the Kuib is Formation.

    1972, Gerard J. B. Germs, The Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Lower Nama Group, South West Africa
    2 more examples

    The upper subdivision of these strata, the calcareous Dashkian Formation, contains the complete and distinct "fourth" oncolite and catagraph assemblage bearing Vesicularites bothrydioformis (Krasn.), Ambigolamellatus horridus, […]

    1981, The Tommotian stage and the Cambrian lower boundary problem, page 250

    In the Devils Eye Dolomite samples, the catagraph walls are usually clearly defined, only 1-10 μm thick, and are the substrate for a secondary cement that has grown centrifugally and centripetally to fill intergranular and intragranular porosity.

    1990, Tasmania. Geological Survey, Explanatory Report, One Mile Geological Map Series

Synonyms & antonyms

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Cite this entry
APA

catagraph. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catagraph

MLA

“catagraph.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catagraph. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catagraph,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catagraph.

Source: catagraph on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.