The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catalectic \Cat`a*lec"tic\, a. [L. catalecticus, Gr. ? incomplete, fr. ? to leave off; kata` down, wholly + lh`gein to stop.]
(Pros.) Wanting a syllable at the end, or terminating in an imperfect foot; as, a catalectic verse.
(Photog. & Chem.) Incomplete; partial; not affecting the whole of a substance.
--Abney.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1580s, in a line of verse, "wanting an unaccented syllable in the last foot," from Late Latin catalecticus, from Greek katalektikos "leaving off," from kata- "down" (see cata-) + legein "to leave off, cease from," from PIE *(s)leg- "to be slack, be languid" (see lax). A complete line is said to be acatalectic.
Wiktionary
a. 1 (context poetry English) Said of a line with incomplete meter, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot. 2 incomplete; partial; not affecting the whole of a substance
WordNet
adj. (verse) metrically incomplete; especially lacking one or more syllables in the final metrical foot [ant: hypercatalectic, acatalectic]
Usage examples of "catalectic".
He disdained even standard versification--he wrote with unusual scansions, strange metrics--the harmonies of octameter catalectic, being more rarified, seemed to rise to the lofty ear of God more than could humble iambic pentameter, that endless trudge, trudge, trudge across the surface of the terrestrial globe.