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▪ I. politic, a. and n.|ˈpɒlɪtɪk|
Forms: 5 poli-, poletyk, 5–6 politik, polytyk, -e, 6 poli-, polyticque, -tick, -tik, -tyke, -tycke, 6–7 politicke, -tike, -tique, 6–9 politick, 7 pol'tick, 6– politic. Also 5 polly-, 5–6 polle-, 5–7 polli-, -tick(e, -tique, etc.
[a. F. politique (14th c. as adj. in Godef.) political, ad. L. polīticus, a. Gr. πολῑτικός pertaining to citizens, civic, civil, political, f. πολίτης citizen (f. πόλις city, state): see -ic.]
A. adj.
†1.
a. = political a. 1 (by which it is now superseded).
† politic translation, the translation of a Jewish feast on grounds of public expediency. † politic year = civil year.
c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1742 They polytyk philosophyrs & poetes were. 1426― De Guil. Pilgr. 11791, I am callyd ‘vertu moral Polytyk & general’. 1556Bp. Ponet (title) A Shorte Treatise of politike Pouuer, and of the true Obedience which Subjectes owe to..ciuile Gouernours. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxii. 136 b, The politique estate of the Ragusins, is Aristocratie. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xxi. (1623) 999 His ripe knowledge in politicke affaires. 1625T. Godwin Moses & Aaron iii. (1641) 124 The reason of Politick translation, was, that two Sabbaths or feast dayes might not immediately follow each other. 1701Swift Contests Nobles & Com. Athens & Rome Wks. 1755 II. i. 50 Those, who in a late reign began the distinction between the personal and politick capacity. 1709–29V. Mandey Syst. Math., Astron. iii. ii. ii. 411 A Politick or Civil Year, is a certain number of whole Days, collected either from other causes or reasons, or from the Sun or Moon, or from the Periods of both Motions;..these being instituted by the People of any Nation, they are received. 1756Burke Subl. & B. iv. xxiv, Their superiours in politick and military virtues.
b. Pertaining or relating to a constitutional state, as distinct from a despotism; constitutional. rare.
c1449Pecock Repr. i. xviii. 105 Gouernauncis..suche that ben politik (that is to seie, suche wherbi..ouerers gouerne othere men vndir hem bi..worldli policie). 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xxxvi. 160 Græcia..In the end from honest common wealthes, and politike government, the inhabitants were brought under tiranny. 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 243 The politic royalty of England, distinguished from the government of absolute kingdoms by the fact that it is rooted in the desire and institution of the nation.
†c. politic body = body politic: see body n. 14.
1604Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 97 It is the Kings part (as the proper Phisician of his Politicke-body) to purge it of all those diseases, by Medicines meete for the same. 1625Bacon Ess., Boldness (Arb.) 519 As there are Mountebanques for the Naturall Body: So are there Mountebanques for the Politique Body. 1631Massinger Emperor East iii. ii, I being the stomach To the politic body of the state.
2. Characterized by policy; of persons, Apt at pursuing a policy; sagacious, prudent, shrewd; of actions or things, Judicious, expedient, skilfully contrived.
a. In political or public affairs.
c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 163 Set a myrour of hihe discrecioun To-fore youre face by polityk governaunce. 1474Caxton Chesse 139 Good, trewe, and polletique councellours. 1558Knox First Blast Pref. (Arb.) 8 The wise, politike, and quiet spirites of this worlde. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, ii. iii. 20 Then this Land was famously enrich'd With politike graue Counsell. 1686tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 348 He being a prudent and Politick Captain,..resolv'd to make a desert of all the Country. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 249 Henry of Navarre was a resolute, active, and politick prince. 1877Tennyson Harold iii. ii, If this be politic, And well for thee and England..Care not for me who love thee.
b. In non-political or general sense.
c1450Mankind (Brandl 1898) 356 Ȝyt well ȝe se, he ys polytyke. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. viii. (1539) 13 More polytike in wysedome to improue their tenementes. 1542Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 273 Consernynge theyr polytycke wyt and lerenyng in Physycke. 1688Prior Ode on Exod. iii. 12 The helm let politic Experience guide. 1758Johnson Idler No. 8 ⁋5 To learn of an enemy has always been accounted politick. 1858Froude Hist. E. III. xvii. 473 Irritation is a passion which it is seldom politic to excite.
†c. Of an appliance: Ingeniously contrived; well adapted to its purpose. Obs. rare.
1549Compl. Scot. vii. 69 Schips, marchantdreis, ande mony politic verkmanlumis for mecanyc craftis.
d. In a sinister sense: Scheming, crafty, cunning; diplomatic, artfully contriving or contrived.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 225 For greater daunger is ther to ariue in a straunge countrey where the inhabitants be pollitique. 1609Dekker Foure Birdes Noah's Arke, Pellican Wks. (Grosart) V. 79 Breake (O my God) all the snares which daily and howerly this politick hunter [Satan] pitcheth to intrap me. 1667Primatt City & C. Builder 12 These being the craftiest and politiquest sort of knaves. 1710Norris Chr. Prud. ii. 95 The very notion we have of a Politic or Cunning Man,..one that knows how to compass his End. 1792Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 27 They are not so weak as to..imagine that you or I are playing any politic game with regard to them. 1879Dixon Windsor II. xvi. 169 The one great fact of which her politic suitor took account.
¶3. Polished, refined, cultured. Sc. Obs.
Erron. rendering of L. polītus.
1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. 85 The Ingles men, evin as the mair politick [L. politiores] Scottis, vses that ald Saxone toung. Ibid. 96 Vthiris of the mair politick sorte amang vs [L. politiores]. Ibid. iii. 178 Thir verses albeit nocht verie politik [L. politi], ȝit throuch commendatione of ancient antiquitie maist probable.
B. n. [With 1, cf. Gr. πολιτικός a politician; with 2 (OF. politique, 13th c. in Godef.), Gr. ἡ πολιτικὴ (τέχνη) the art of government; with 3, Gr. τὰ πολιτικά affairs of state, politics.]
†1.
a. A politician. Obs.
1559J. Aylmer Harborowe C j, I doubte not, they had these consideracions that our polytikes haue. 1598Bacon Sacr. Medit., Atheisme Ess. (Arb.) 125 Amongst states men and politikes. 1611W. Sclater Key (1629) 274, I could wish all Christian politiques to consider, that righteousnes is the best vpholder of states, and transgression in the issue proues their ouerthrow. 1738Warburton Div. Legat. I. Ded. 24 Now again, they are a Cabal of mere Politiques.
†b. An indifferentist in matters of religion, a temporizer, a worldly-wise man: orig. with reference to the politiques of France: see politique.
1589Nashe Pasquil & Marfor. 8 Secretarie Machiauell, a pollitick not much affected to any Religion. 1600O. E. Repl. Libel i. v. 106 A carnall fellow, and a meere politicke. 1625Bacon Ess., Unity in Relig. (Arb.) 425 Worldlings, and Depraued Politickes, who are apt to contemne Holy Things. 1633Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 127 Play not the hypocrite, nor the politicke, who cares not what Religion bee, so some be.
†2. Policy; politics. Obs.
1588Sir W. Stanley Dr. Allen's Seditious Drifts 88 margin, Certeine ouersights in policie escaped this great politicien in this Pamphlet, which is mere politike. 1639N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 10 Those lewd bookes, which..may very justly be termed the politick of the vicious and the Libertines. a1649Drummond of Hawthornden Skiamachia Wks. (1711) 190 The politick they pitch'd upon was this: some noblemen, barons, and burgesses..met at Edinburgh. 1715Bentley Serm. x. 361 This did not suit with Popish Politic.
3. pl. politics.
a. The science and art of government; the science dealing with the form, organization, and administration of a state or part of one, and with the regulation of its relations with other states (hence, imperial politics, national politics, domestic politics, municipal politics, communal politics, parochial politics, foreign politics, etc.). Also † the politics, public or social ethics, that branch of moral philosophy dealing with the state or social organism as a whole (obs.).
a1529Skelton Col. Clout 625 But noble men borne To lerne they haue scorne,..Set nothyng by polytykes. 1565Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Ciuilis, Scientia ciuilis, morall philosophie, the politikes. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xiv. §2 (1622) 356 Morall Philosophie..hath three parts: Ecclesiastickes, Oeconomickes, and Politickes. 1644Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 100/2 The next removal must be to the study of politics; to know the beginning, end, and reasons of political societies. 1739Hume Hum. Nat. (1874) I. Introd. 307 Politics consider men as united in society, and dependent on each other. 1789Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 94, I mean politics in the great sense, or that sublime science which embraces for its object the happiness of mankind. 1791–1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 339 ‘The art of governing mankind by deceiving them’, as politics, ill understood, have been defined. [Cf. policy n.1 2, quot. 1796.] 1883J. A. Symonds in Encycl. Brit. XV. 150/1 Machiavelli..founded the science of politics for the modern world, by concentrating thought upon its fundamental principles. 1900E. Jenks Hist. Politics 1 By Politics we mean the business of Government, that is to say, the control and management of people living together in a society.
b. the Politics: name of the treatise on political science, τὰ πολιτικά, by Aristotle.
1651Hobbes Govt. & Soc. iii. §13. 46 Aristotle in his first book of Politiques affirmes as a foundation of the whole politicall science, that some men by nature are made worthy to command, others only to serve. a1656Ussher Power Princes ii. (1683) 134 As is observed..by Aristotle in his Politicks. 1831Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) III. 529/1 His [Aristotle's] two treatises of the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics, are together a refutation of the erroneous doctrines in moral and political philosophy contained in Plato's political speculations.
c. Political actions or practice; policy. Freq. in unfavourable sense. Phr. to play politics: see play v. 16 d.
1644[H. Parker] Jus Pop. 23 O that our Courtiers at Oxford would admit of such politicks, and blush to publish any directly contrary. a1706Evelyn Mem. (1819) II. 137, I looke upon our neglect of severely punishing them as an high defect in our politiques. 1711Pope Temp. Fame 411 Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix, Of crooked counsels and dark politicks. c1740Carey God save the King ii, Confound their politicks, Frustrate their knavish tricks. 1741Middleton Cicero II. ix. 259 What strange politics do we pursue? 1930N. W. Stephenson Nelson W. Aldrich xx. 327 Northern enemies were quick to draw a conclusion; the expulsion of the Brownsville soldiers was mere politics, a play to the gallery to make sure the hold of the administration on the Southern Republican machine. 1952Manch. Guardian Weekly 11 Dec. 13 The ‘politics’ involved..in key posts are not the private appetites of machine politicians or rarely that.
d. Political affairs or business; political life.
1693Humours Town 42 The Coffee-house Politicks are but Fewel to Factions. 1710–11Swift Lett. (1767) III. 141, I was an hour with him [Harley] this morning deep in politicks, where I told him the objections of the October Club. 1714Mrs. Manley Adv. Rivella 117 She now agrees with me, that Politicks is not the Business of a Woman. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. i, There is no act of treachery, or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour. 1879Gladstone Sp. at Dalkeith 26 Nov., I said myself in 1865, and I believed, that it was out of the range of practical politics, that is to say the politics of the coming election. 1891Law Times XCII. 124/1 Sugden..re-entered politics, and sat in the House of Commons.
e. The political principles, convictions, opinions, or sympathies of a person or party.
1769Junius Lett. iv. (1772) I. 35 Most men's politics sit much too loosely about them. 1842Miall in Nonconf. II. 656 Whig politics..appear to exert a peculiarly unhappy influence upon character. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 77 Too pleasing a vision to be shattered by..the politics of shoemakers and costermongers. 1897Rhoscomyl White Rose Arno 74 Oh what are all your politics to women? A woman's politics are the man she loves.
f. fig. Conduct of private affairs; politic management, scheming, planning.
1693Humours Town 135 Thou art as much out in thy Politicks, as a Niggardly Father is. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xvi. vii, Mrs. Western was reading a lecture on prudence, and matrimonial politics to her niece. 1855Smedley H. Coverdale iii, The governor's letter contains a budget of family politics. 1902Westm. Gaz. 21 Aug. 3/2 The fall of a skirt is a point second to none in importance in the politics of a costume.
g. Used as a singular noun.
1906Daily Chron. 7 Dec. 6/4 She [sc. Australia] has a politics of her own, and Europe is all the poorer for being out of touch with it. 1931M. de la Bedoyère Drift of Democracy ii. 16 This politics is the vaguest of disciplines. 1970I. L. Horowitz Masses in Lat. Amer. i. 23 If the United States model is to succeed in Latin America..a pluralistic politics of competitive, numerous, but autonomous groups must emerge.
h. Comb., as politics-conscious, politics-free, politics-infested, politics-mad, politics-ridden adjs.
1957H. Read Tenth Muse xxxv. 303 Futurism was more conscious of its environment, machine-conscious, politics-conscious. 1977New Yorker 4 July 85/1 Considering the period it covers, the ‘Memoir’ is politics-free to an amazing degree.
1949Koestler Promise & Fulfilment v. 270 The good, clean academic atmosphere acted like a disinfectant on our politics-infested minds.
1937W. B. Yeats Let. 8 Feb. (1954) 880 He says that in England the educated classes are politics-mad. 1946R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (1949) xiii. 299 The politics-ridden, local relief of Depression days.
▪ II. politic, v.|ˈpɒlɪtɪk|
Also politick.
[f. politic n. or (esp. in later use) a back-formation f. politicking vbl. n.]
intr. To engage in political activity, esp. in order to strike political bargains or to seek votes (for oneself or another). Also trans. (rare).
1917O. Douglas Setons xiv. 225 He has been politic-ing down in Ayrshire. 1967[see drop v. 28 a and b]. 1974Observer (Colour Suppl.) 3 Nov. 31/2 Within the same square mile..Richard of Gloucester politicked. 1977R. L. Duncan Temple Dogs (1978) ii. i. 164 He was having to politic the old man to keep him from swerving away from his beliefs. |