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Physic
Definitions
- 1 Relating to or concerning existent materials; physical.
- 1 A medicine or drug, especially a cathartic or purgative. archaic, countable
"Harke yee Lords, you ſee I haue giuen her Phiſicke, / And you muſt needs beſtovv her Funerall, […]"
- 2 a purging medicine; stimulates evacuation of the bowels wordnet
- 3 The art or profession of healing disease; medicine. archaic, uncountable
"...and thus draw out all the unwholesome Air and Stench, which does more harm than any Physick can repair."
- 4 Natural philosophy; physics. archaic, uncountable
"When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my Father; where, by the Aſſiſtance of him and my Uncle John, and ſome other Relations, I got forty Pounds, and a Promiſe of thirty Pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I ſtudied Phyſick two years and ſeven months, knowing it would be uſeful in long Voyages."
- 5 A physician. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"Desire is death, which physic did except."
- 1 To cure or heal. transitive
"Wouldſt thou not haue ſome Bulchin from the herd / To phyſicke thee of this venereall itch?"
- 2 To administer medicine to, especially a purgative. transitive
"I will physic your rankness […]"
Etymology
From Middle English phisik, from Latin physicus, from Ancient Greek φῠσῐκός (phŭsĭkós, “natural; physical”), from φύσις (phúsis, “origin, birth; nature, quality; form, shape; type, kind”), from φῠ́ω (phŭ́ō, “grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear, become, rise up”).
From Middle English fysike (noun) and phisiken, fisike (verb; from the noun), from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φῠσῐκός (phŭsĭkós, “natural; physical”), see above.
From Middle English fysike (noun) and phisiken, fisike (verb; from the noun), from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φῠσῐκός (phŭsĭkós, “natural; physical”), see above.
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