physic

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈfɪz.ɪk/ / /ˈfəz.ək/ / /ˈfiz.ik/

adj

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”).

Relating to or concerning existent materials; physical.

noun

Etymology: 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.

A medicine or drug, especially a cathartic or purgative.
“Harke yee Lords, you ſee I haue giuen her Phiſicke, / And you muſt needs beſtovv her Funerall, […]”
“I ſhould not thinke it ſtrange, for 'tis a phyſicke / That's bitter, to ſweet end.”
The art or profession of healing disease; medicine.
“...and thus draw out all the unwholesome Air and Stench, which does more harm than any Physick can repair.”
Natural philosophy; physics.
“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.”
A physician.
“Desire is death, which physic did except.”

verb

To cure or heal.
“Wouldſt thou not haue ſome Bulchin from the herd / To phyſicke thee of this venereall itch?”
To administer medicine to, especially a purgative.
“I will physic your rankness […]”
“When she had been a little girl - a very little girl - her mother had once cried at Anne in utter exasperation, "You're so contrary cheese'd physic ya!"”