The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catamite \Cat"a*mite\ (k[a^]t"[.a]*m[imac]t), n. [L. Catamitus, an old form of Ganymedes Ganymede, Gr. Ganymh`dhs.] A boy kept for unnatural purposes.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"boy used in pederasty," 1590s, from Latin Catamitus, corruption of Ganymedes, the name of the beloved cup-bearer of Jupiter (see Ganymede). Cicero used it as a contemptuous insult against Antonius.
Wiktionary
n. The junior partner in a pederastic relationship.
Wikipedia
In its modern usage the term catamite refers to a boy as the passive or receiving partner in anal intercourse with a man.
In its ancient usage a catamite ( Latin catamitus) was a pubescent boy who was the intimate companion of a young man in ancient Greece and Rome, usually in a pederastic relationship. It was usually a term of affection and literally means " Ganymede" in Latin. It was also used as a term of insult when directed toward a grown man. The word derives from the proper noun Catamitus, the Latinized form of Ganymede, the beautiful Trojan youth abducted by Zeus to be his companion and cupbearer. The Etruscan form of the name was Catmite, from an alternate Greek form of the name, Gadymedes.
Usage examples of "catamite".
There was neck and jaw, an ear, I think, and a geyser of blood, brilliant in the light of their lamp, and then I had the littler catamite inside my telescopic sight, and then I planted the shot inside his ear.
The netman waved his two catamites away and gestured for Parma to sit on the couch.
The reason for all these vehicles was the vast number of his procurers and bawds, harlots, catamites and lusty partners in depravity.
Afterwards he invited to a similar gathering procurers, catamites collected together from all sides, and lascivious boys and young men.
Nero stumbled onto shore hand in hand with Pythagoras, the most beautiful of the catamite Cupids.
Nero assigned Sporus a regular dowry, wrote up a nuptial contract, and later he publicly celebrated his wedding to the catamite, Tigellinus giving the veiled bride away.
Epaphroditus, Phaon, and the catamite Sporus accompanied him on other mounts.
And whereas he had appeared before the harlots in a woman's costume and with protruding bosom, he met the catamites in the garb of a boy who is exposed for prostitution.
He gave an order, too, that an amount of public grain equal to one year's tribute should be given to all the harlots, procurers, and catamites who were within the walls, and promised an equal amount to those without, for, thanks to the foresight of Severus and Trajan, there was in Rome at that time a store of grain equal to seven years' tribute.
Athis the mind-blown catamite pinned under Lycabas, the sickled Assyrian bugger.
He drifted upon a silver barge on the town's circular canal, taking with him a courtesan, a catamite, a succubus, a bowl of smouldering dream-leaf and a jug of his favorite wine, which renewed itself as rapidly as its master.
All his influence rested on Teenie Whopper, who was busily misrepresenting herself as royalty and holding her position through making page boys into catamites.
I, on the other hand, do not entirely subscribe to the general loathing and contempt for the sanctimonious, cowardly, shit-smeared Rhodian catamites that most soldiers of the Empire profess.