An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

1) A devastating flood; deluge.
2) Any violent upheaval that brings about great changes or causes great demolition. See also: → catastrophe.

From Fr. cataclysme, from L. cataclysmos "deluge," from Gk. kataklysmos, from kataklyzein "to inundate," from kata "down" + klyzein "to wash."

Gatlur "great flood," from gat "great, large, big" [Mo'in, Dehxodâ] + lur "flood" [Mo'in, Dehxodâ], cf. Gk. louein "to wash," L. luere "to wash," Bret. laouer "trough," PIE *lou- "to wash." Variants of lur in Pers. dialects are: Lori, Kordi laf, lafow, lafaw, Tabari lé, all meaning "flood."

1) Of, pertaining to, or resulting from a → cataclysm.
2) Having the effect of, or of the nature of, a cataclysm. → cataclysmic variable.

→ cataclysm; → -ic.

A → variable star that shows a sudden and dramatic change in brightness, including → flare stars, → novae, and some types of → symbiotic stars. They are believed to be very → close binary systems consisting of an → accreting → white dwarf  → primary and an evolved → late-type secondary star that has filled its → Roche lobe. For systems with an → accretion disk, it is believed that a thermal instability is the cause of repetitive outbursts observed in cataclysmic variables called → dwarf novae.

→ cataclysmic; → variable.

A cataclysmic binary in which the white dwarf primary has a strong magnetic field that radically affects the accretion flow in the system. → polar

→ magnetic; → cataclysmic; → binary.