exoticadj.n.

1600 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor iv. iii. sig. Liv Magique, Witchcraft, or other such Exoticke Artes. View more context for this quotation

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. vi. §3. 98 As Exotick observers deliver, it groweth upon Almond trees. View more context for this quotation

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine i. xii. 38 It was an exotick and forain territory.

1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 34 [The] Mulbery is..an exotique plant.

1680 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified (1685) 27 [Welsh] hath the least mixture of Exotick words of any now used in Europe.

1756 S. Foote Englishman return'd from Paris ii. 53 I'll have these exotic Attendants..sent post to the Place from whence they came.

1779 S. Johnson Hughes in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets IV. 4 The Italian opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment.

1793 A. Murphy tr. Tacitus Ann. (1805) I. 235 And invited to reign over them an exotic king.

1834 T. De Quincey S. T. Coleridge in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 589/1 Rome had cast much of her literature in her own moulds before these exotic models had begun to domineer.

1845 Florist's Jrnl. 6 23 The exotic class of the order.

1671 R. Bohun Disc. Wind 56 They run streaming between two Mountains..and are guarded on all sides from the inroads of other Exotique Winds and Air.

a1718 W. Penn Tracts in Wks. (1726) I. 473 These and the like Practices, strange and exotick to the Primitive and Christian Faith and Worship.

1727 D. Defoe Syst. Magick i. iii. 81 An absolute Necessity of some exotick Helps.

a1659 Bp. T. Morton Ἐπισκοπος Ἀποστολικος (1670) 51 Mr. Selden, the Ornament of our Nation for Exotick Learning.

1728 J. Swift Intelligencer (1729) ix. 86 An exotick Habit and Demeanor, added to other foreign Accomplishments.

1833 I. Taylor Fanaticism vi. 167 When shall the European families drive the exotic tyranny for ever from their shores!

1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. viii. 230 The exotic extraction of one of the Original Tribes.

1629 tr. Herodian Hist. (1635) 295 Entring the City..in that exoticke and barbarous garbe.

1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentleman 268 The boarish and exoticke speech of Diogenes.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 224 Lest your entreated patience turne into exoticke passion.

1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God I. x. 252 A Man, who would make this the Rule of his Conduct, Passes for an Extraordinary, Singular..and Exotick spirit.

1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber xi. 220 In his dealing with so exotick a Partner.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering II. 128 I have not the poor satisfaction of interesting a human being—not even the exotic monster of a parson.

1919 F. Hurst Humoresque 85 She was about as exotic as a flowering weed which can spring so strongly and so fibrously from slack.

1933 F. Baldwin Innocent Bystander (1935) ix. 172 She hadn't bothered to be exotic and provocative with him.

1933 Punch 15 Nov. 546 I want a perfume thuitable to an ecthotic blonde with innothent green eythe and a lithp.

1958 Listener 7 Aug. 202/3 An enormous hangar fitted with exotic devices.

1954 Newsweek 8 Nov. 96/2 One mushrooming by-product of burlesque,..is what the 1954 billboards call the exotic dancer.

1954 Newsweek 8 Nov. 97/1 Night-club owners who want to bolster attendance hire an exotic dancer.

1955 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 19 July 1 The League of Exotic Dancers..a group within the American Guild of Variety Artists, through which all the girl entertainers are booked.

1965 R. Hardwick Plotters (1966) xiii. 114 ‘Exotic dancer—’ ‘A euphemism for stripper.’

1967 E. Ambler Dirty Story i. ii. 20 My wife..is an exotic dancer.

1957 in Amer. Speech (1960) 35 285 Fuels that combine hydrogen with boron or lithium are considered to be exotic fuels.

1958 C. C. Adams et al. Space Flight iii. 83 During recent months the terms ‘exotic propellants’, ‘Zip-fuels’, and ‘Hi-Cals’ have come into the pages of the trade and technical literature of rocketry. These generally embrace efforts outside strictly conventional lines to develop high-energy power sources but do, on occasion, include merely high-energy types of liquids and solids.

1958 Observer 2 Feb. 1/2 This main stage—the ‘beefed-up’ Redstone—uses a secret formula ‘exotic’ fuel.

1961 Technology Nov. 282 Alloys of columbium (niobium), one of the new ‘exotic’ metals noted for its strength and corrosion resistance.

1963 Machinery 20 Mar. 631/2 Quite recently it has become increasingly fashionable to describe certain metals as exotic.

1970 M. Smith Aviation Fuels lv. 414 In the early stages of the development programme on these exotic fuels they were prohibitively expensive.

1682 N. Grew Idea Philos. Hist. Plants 4 in Anat. Plants All Exoticks..may probably be reduced to some such Domesticks.

a1698 C. Morton Enquiry in Harleian Misc. (1810) V. 499 The crane is an exotick.

1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. viii. 140 In the bishop of London's garden at Fulham are many exotics of very ancient date.

1796 C. Marshall Gardening (1815) xix. 387 What has been said of Geraniums, applies to all..Exotics.

1812 A. Rees Cycl. (at cited word) The generality of exotics..do not thrive in England without some peculiar care and culture.

1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. p. iv Potatoes were first..cultivated as a rare exotic.

1795 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. 17 410 The Welsh is wholly self-derived, and free from exotics.

1823 C. Lamb Christ's Hosp. in Elia 29 Roast veal, or..griskin (exotics unknown to our palates).

1849 H. Rogers Ess. II. vi. 303 Other systems of religion are usually delicate exotics, and will not bear transplanting.

1858 H. T. Buckle Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) II. viii. 543 In a country like Spain, a great bank was an exotic which might live with art but could never thrive by nature.

1954 Daily Oklahoman 24 Jan. 29 (heading) New exotics at the Derby [Club].

1965 L. H. Whitten Progeny of Adder (1966) 30 A still-famous tenor shared billing with the immense breasts of an ‘exotic’ named Telly Stahr.