Cataclysmal

Of, or belonging to, a cataclysm. Catacomb, ( kat'a - kōm,) n. [Gr. kata, down, and kumbos, a cavity, from kupto, to hide.] ( Arch.) A general name given to excavations under-ground, used for the purpose of interment. The most celebrated are those of the ancient city of Memphis, in Egypt, which extend for miles; those of Rome and Naples, where the early Christians used to meet for worship during the cruel persecutions of which they were the objects, and which are full of the most interesting memorials of these martyrs for conscience' sake; and those of Paris, which present, among other tragic memorials, the bones of those slaughtered in the Reign of Terror, built up as walls to form pa ages through these gloomy vaults. Generally speaking, catacombs are but the quarries out of which have been hewn the stone for building the cities under which, or near to which, they lie. Catacoustics, n . pl . [Gr. katá , and akonō , I hear; Fr. catacoustique.] The science of reflected sounds, or that part of acoustics which treats of the properties of echoes, or, in general, of sounds which do not come to the ear directly, but after having been reflected by some substance. - See ECHO; SOUND.