cathartically

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

“cathartically” is listed under Cathartic.

Origin: Gr. ….

Medicine A medicine that promotes alvine discharges; a purge; a purgative of moderate activity.

☞ The cathartics are more energetic and certain in action that the laxatives, which simply increase the tendency to alvine evacuation; and less powerful and irritaint that the drastic purges, which cause profuse, repeated, and watery evacuations.

— Ca·thar′wb-a1′>′tic·al·ly, adverb — Ca·thar′wb-a1′>′tic·al·ness, noun

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54