# catalog

Pronunciation: US say "KAT-uh-lawg" /ˈkætəlɔɡ/; UK say "KAT-uh-log" /ˈkætəlɒɡ/

## Noun

1. A magazine in which a retailer describes the products it sells, so that readers can order them for delivery.
   - Simple: A store's magazine that shows the things it sells so you can order them and have them delivered.
   - _She ordered a winter coat from the catalog, and it arrived within a week._
   - _Many mail-order companies have replaced their printed catalogs with websites._
2. A list of all the publications held by a library.
   - Simple: A list of all the books and other printed works that a library has.
   - _The university library's online catalog lists more than two million titles._
   - _A misfiled card in the old catalog sent her to the wrong shelf._
3. A systematic list of things such as books, names, or pictures.
   - Simple: An organized list of things, such as books, names, or pictures.
   - _The botanist drafted a catalog of the island's plants, adding notes on each species._
   - _The gallery printed a catalog of the photographs in the exhibition._
6. A complete list of the songs of a recording artist or a composer.
   - Simple: A full list of all the songs of one singer, band, or songwriter.
   - _Her catalog runs to more than three hundred songs, many of them written for other singers._
   - _Fans compiled a full catalog of the songwriter's work, including tracks that were never released._
7. A whole string of unwelcome or unpleasant things, often much alike, such as mistakes or failures.
   - Simple: A series of bad or unwelcome things, often of the same kind.
   - _A catalog of defensive mistakes cost the team the match._
   - _The inquiry described a catalog of failures that allowed the fire to spread._
8. A book that a college, university, or other institution publishes at regular intervals, officially describing the institution, including its history and the courses and degrees it offers.
   - Simple: A book a college prints every so often that describes the school, its history, its classes, and its degrees.
   - _According to the university catalog, the history major requires twelve courses._
   - _The college revises its catalog each spring before registration opens._

## Verb

4. To enter an item in a catalog, or to add items such as books to an existing catalog.
   - Simple: To add something, such as a book, to a catalog.
   - _Staff catalog each new acquisition within a week of its arrival._
   - _The archive has cataloged only a fraction of the letters it received last year._
5. To compile a catalog of a group of things.
   - Simple: To make a careful list of all the things in a group.
   - _The inquiry will catalog the failures that led to the bridge collapse._
   - _Researchers spent a decade cataloging the insects of the rain forest._

## Noun

9. A list of the files stored in a computer directory. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A list showing the files saved in one place on a computer.
   - _The program reads the disk's catalog into memory before loading any files._
   - _Each side of the floppy disk had its own catalog with room for a limited number of file names._

## Other meanings

- (verb) In stamp collecting, to sort stamps or assess their value by referring to a catalog.

## Origin

From Middle English cathaloge, from Old French catalogue, from Late Latin catalogus, itself from Ancient Greek κατάλογος (katálogos, “enrollment, register”). That comes from καταλέγω (katalégō, “to recount, make a list”), from κατα- (kata-, “downwards, towards”) + λέγω (légō, “to say, to speak, to tell”); it is equivalent to cata- + -logue.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/catalog (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).