noun
- a female given name.
noun
- Marfa Skavronskaya, 1684?–1727, Lithuanian wife of Peter the Great: empress of Russia 1725–27.
noun
- Sophia Augusta of Anhalt-ZerbstCatherine the Great, 1729–96, empress of Russia 1762–96.
noun
- KateCatherine, 1846–1901, English painter and author and illustrator of children’s books.
noun
- Saint. died 307 ad, legendary Christian martyr of Alexandria, who was tortured on a spiked wheel and beheaded
noun
- ?1684–1727, second wife of Peter the Great, whom she succeeded as empress of Russia (1725–27)
noun
- known as Catherine the Great. 1729–96, empress of Russia (1762–96), during whose reign Russia extended her boundaries at the expense of Turkey, Sweden, and Poland: she was a patron of literature and the arts
noun
- Kate. 1846–1901, English painter, noted as an illustrator of children’s books
- Peter. born 1942, British film director; noted for such cerebral films as The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), Prospero’s Books (1990), and Eight and a Half Women (1999)
fem. proper name, from French Catherine, from Medieval Latin Katerina, from Latin Ecaterina, from Greek Aikaterine. The -h- was introduced 16c., probably a folk etymology from Greek katheros “pure.” The initial Greek vowel is preserved in Russian form Ekaterina.
As the name of a type of pear, attested from 1640s. Catherine wheel (early 13c.) is named for St. Catherine of Alexandria, legendary virgin martyr from the time of Maximinus who was tortured on a spiked wheel. Her name day is Nov. 25. A popular saint in the Middle Ages, which accounts for the popularity of the given name.