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and the curve has the geometrical property that the length of its
tangent is constant. It is named the tractory, since a weight placed
on the ground and drawn along by means of a flexible string by a
person travelling in a straight line, the weight not being in this
line, describes the curve in question. It is named the antifriction
curve, since a pivot and step having the form of the surface generated
by revolving the curve about its vertical axis wear away equally (see
MECHANICS: _Applied_).
CATERAN (from the Gaelic _ceathairne_, a collective word meaning
"peasantry"), the band of fighting men of a Highland clan; hence the
term is applied to the Highland, and later to any, marauders or
cattle-lifters.
CATERHAM, an urban district in the Wimbledon parliamentary division of
Surrey, England, 20 m. S. of London by the South-Eastern & Chatham
railway. Pop. (1901) 9486. It lies in a healthy, hilly district, and has
grown in modern times from a village into a large residential town.
There are large barracks in the neighbourhood, and the Metropolitan
lunatic asylum is close to the town.
CATERPILLAR, the popular name of the larva of various insects,
particularly of butterflies and moths (see LEPIDOPTERA, HEXAPODA,
METAMORPHOSIS). The word appears first in the form _caterpyl_
(_Promptorium Parvulorum_, about the middle of the 15th century). This
may be the original form, with the addition of -ar or -er; if so, it
represents the O. Fr. _chatepelose_ or _chatepeleuse_, i.e. "hairy-cat"
(_chat_, cat, and _pelouse_, hairy, Lat. _pilosus_), a name applied to
the hairy caterpillar, and also according to Cotgrave to a weevil. The
use of "cat" in this connexion is paralleled by the Swiss name for a
caterpillar, _teufelskatz_, and the popular English name for the blossom
of the willow, "catkin," somewhat resembling a caterpillar (cf.
"palmer"); the modern French is _chenille_, Latin _canicula_, a little
dog. The termination of the word seems to have been early connected with
"piller," a robber, plunderer from the destructive habits of the larva,
cf. Joel i. 4--"That which the palmer-worm hath left, hath the locust
eaten." The spelling "caterpillar," a 17th century corruption, has been
the usual form since Johnson.
CATESBY, ROBERT (1573-1605), English conspirator, son of Sir William
Catesby of Lapworth in Warwickshire, a prominent]]>
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