relictn.
/ˈrɛlɪkt/, U.S. /ˈrɛlɪk(t)/ 1.
a. The widow of a man. Now chiefly historical except in formal (or mock-formal) use.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun] > widow
widowOE
lavec1325
widow woman1340
relictc1460
widow lady1525
widowess1596
maid-widow1655
feme sole1714
veuve1766
ace of spades1811
sod widow1927
c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 89 (MED) Moolde, relicte of Raph ffrensh of Thrope.
a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 503 (MED) Mavde halygod, the relicte of Laurence halygod, yaf..to god & cetera..x shillings of yerely rente.
1513–14 in W. Macleod Family Papers Dundas (1897) lxxiii Margret the relict of umquhile William Dundas.
1545 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 9 Dame Jonet Stewart the relict of umquhile Johne Muir of Caldwell and now spous to Thomas Kirkpatrick.
a1659 F. Osborne Observ. Turks in Wks. (1673) 305 Such cries as are made by the Relicts and Children of slain Souldiers.
1683 Mem. Sir J. Melvil 128 He married the Earl of March his Relict.
1718 Mem. Life J. Kettlewell ii. xxvii. 129 This Gentlewoman, the Relict of so Worthy a Man.
1776 S. Foote Bankrupt iii. 70 There has been..no less than three proposals of marriage already made to my relict.
1804 ‘E. de Acton’ Tale without Title II. 214 I am ordered by the relict of my late master..to inform you that she [etc.].
1833 J. Galt in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 91/2 The widows of the Faculty, and the relicts, as the Scotch call the surviving wives, of divines.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest IV. xvii. 59 Nothing could be further from William's purpose than in any way to disturb the relict of his revered predecessor.
1927 P. G. Wodehouse Small Bachelor ii. 25 She had also been the relict of the late P. Homer Horlick.
1931 Good Housek. (U.S. ed.) Dec. 90/3 Refusing to accept her children's plans for her to live as the relict of a great man, she went off..to live..the life of contemplation.
1962 Scotsman 5 Dec. 10 Ella Mitchell, retired teacher, relict of James Noble.
2008 National Rev. (Nexis) 13 Feb. Eleanor Roosevelt, relict of Franklin D.
b. Without construction. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1573 J. Tyrie Refut. Ansuer Knox f. 8 v The sonnes of the relict sall forther multiplie nor the sonnes of hir quha hathe ane housband.
c1600 in Balfour's Practicks (1754) 114 Leivand behind him a relict, or lady tiercar.
1640 in J. Nicholson Minute Bk. War Comm. Covenanters Kirkcudbright 13 Nov. (1855) 89 To..confess his fault in declameing, by words, of the gude name and fame of the said relict.
1702 R. Steele Funeral i. 3 I never yet could meet with Sorrowful Relict, but was her self enough to make an hard bargain with Me.
1776 T. Percival Ess. Med. & Exper. III. 347 To the great prejudice of a poor relict and her helpless child.
1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country i. 54 She, sad relict, must drag residue Of days.
1931 V. Sackville-West All Passion Spent i. 101 Because a gentleman has been Viceroy of India and Prime Minister of England it does not mean that his relict is left well off.
1996 Country Life 18 Apr. 116/4 Big country houses..occupied by bucolic squires, their wives, their dogs,..their father's relict, and their unmarried sisters.
c. The surviving partner (male or female) of a person. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > widow or widower > [noun]
relict1650
1650 Bp. J. Taylor Funerall Serm. Countesse of Carbery 12 Though the Relict of a man or woman hath liberty to contract new relations; yet I doe not finde they have liberty to cast off the old.
1791 T. Bowman Caustoniana vi. 127 You, the relict of this highly favoured woman are fully persuaded of the truth of these things.
1887 Northeastern Reporter 12 533 Charles W. Burrows, surviving relict of said Lillian E. Burrows.
1919 J. G. Frazer Folk-lore in Old Test. I. ii. 523 The jealous ghost of the deceased husband or wife, whose tenderest feelings are wounded by the sight of his or her relict in the arms of a living rival.
1986 ‘A. Burgess’ Homage to QWERT YUIOP 239 People are also frightened of dying these days because of the financial mess their relicts are likely to be in.
2. † a. Scottish. A receptacle for holding a relic; = reliquary n. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1518 in C. A. Hunt Perth Hammermen (1889) 3 Giffin for brokin silver to the relict.
1535 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1905) VI. 248 Ane relict... weyand xxxvj vnce iij grote wecht.
a1600 ( W. Stewart tr. H. Boece Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 367 The relict of Sanct Andro..Adornit wes..With diamontis ding, and margretis mony one.
a1689 W. Cleland Coll. Poems (1697) 88 And wearing relicts, cross, or beads.
b. Originally Scottish = relic n. 1. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > portable shrines or relics > relic > [noun]
relic?c1225
corsaint1303
reliefc1449
relict1535
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boece Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) 616 In his armes that relict he did braiss, Oft kissand it.
1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 2231 Cum, win my pardon; and kiss my relicts, to.
c1540 Resignation Northampton Priory in M. Prance Addit. Narr. (1679) 37 Steryng them with all perswasions..to dedd Images and counterfeit Relicts.
c1600 Diurnal of Remarkable Occurrents (1833) 4 [James IV] was verray..stoudious in bigging of kirkis, sercheing of relictis of sanctis.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. v. 195 The Apple is..yearely transported for Constantinople..and there is reserued for a relict of the fruit of the forbidden tree.
1681 R. Knox Hist. Relation Ceylon 80 Each of these Gods hath a Pallenkine..in the which there are several pieces of their superstitious relicts.
1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxvii. 344 For want of a better Image or Relict to adore, they worship a Monkeys Tooth.
1735 H. Jacob Wks. 411 In the Statues, Bas-relieves and precious Relicts of the great Masters of old.
1827 C. M. Sedgwick Hope Leslie (1872) I. 37 The relicts and gifts of a woman whom he had loved.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xxxvii. 322 Things that was valuable..on account of them being relicts.
1910 L. B. Farrar Eternity of Matter xlix. 214 [Christianity's] miracles, the achievements of osseous relicts of saints, or a bit of the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
3.
a. A surviving portion or part of something; (also) a surviving member of a group, lineage, etc.; a survivor. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [noun] > remains > a surviving part
relict1570
1570 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxiv. 171 Relict of Synoins seid, Tratouris to God, and mainsworne to the King.
1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke v. vi. 217 If they [sc. phlegmone]leaue behind them some litle relict, which may turne to suppuration, it is needfull to vse some other sharpe medicine.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne Argt. The eldest daughter Frances,..is the sole relict of the family.
1679 M. Rusden Further Discov. Bees 99 The relict of a good Colony that hath had several Hives taken off.
1764 S. Foote Patron iii. 74 My Æneas! my precious relict of Troy!
1785 R. Cumberland Arab in Plays (1982) iv. 31 You see before you The last sad Relict of a line of Kings.
1835 Tait's Edinb. Mag. June 363 He [sc. Bernadotte, King of Sweden] still survives, as almost the only relict of the class of men to which he belonged.
1868 J. W. Draper Hist. Amer. Civil War II. lxi. 518 Hemmed in by a strong military government on the west, and on the north by the powerful and embittered relict of the old republic.
1884 J. Gairdner Brewer's Reign Henry VIII I. viii. 244 The King had nothing to fear from any competitor to the crown: the only relict of the betrampled De la Poles..was a wretched exile at Metz.
1900 Scots Mag. 25 46 The last relict of his patrimonial territory of Lochailse having passed into disuetude.
b. In plural. Remains, remnants, residue.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > continuance or tenacity of life > [noun] > survivor
overlivera1425
superviver1523
supervivanta1575
outliver1580
remnant1597
relicts1598
surviver1604
survivor1624
survivoressa1711
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [noun] > remains
reliquiesOE
rest?a1475
offals1538
reliquiae1582
relicts1598
afterlings1613
stoundings1650
extantsa1658
1598 R. Barret Theorike & Pract. Mod. Warres iv. 116 Hee gathered together the relictes of the defeated armies.
1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 304 In as many places are Christians, or relicts of that holy profession.
1654 R. Codrington tr. Justinus Hist. xxii. 319 The Carthaginians sent Commanders..to prosecute the relicts of the war.
1728 J. Morgan Compl. Hist. Algiers I. i. 10 He there seems to speak of the Relicts of the Pœni.
1733 Ordinary of Newgate, his Acct. 19 Dec. 27/2 (advt.) The Admirable Electuary, which infallibly cures..the Relicts of a former infection.
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. I. vi. 112 The ideas (or relicts of such impression) will exactly imitate the order of the impression itself.
1842 N. Hawthorne Twice-told Tales II. 103 Toss on an armful of those dry oak chips, the last relicts of the Mermaid's knee-timbers.
1856 G. Grote Hist. Greece XII. ii. xcviii. 638 Isolated relicts of what had once been an Hellenic aggregate.
1980 B. Friel Faith Healer in Sel. Plays (1984) 332 A withered sheaf of wheat from a harvest thanksgiving..or a fragment of a Christmas decoration..—relicts of abandoned rituals.
2004 Times (Nexis) 28 Sept. 70 Today the ghostly relicts of old Dunwich lie underwater up to a mile offshore.
c. In plural. The remains of a deceased person; = relic n. 3. Now rare.Sometimes implying sense 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > dead body > [noun]
lichc893
dust?a1000
holdc1000
bonesOE
stiff onea1200
bodyc1225
carrion?c1225
licham?c1225
worms' food or ware?c1225
corsec1250
ashc1275
corpsec1315
carcass1340
murraina1382
relicsa1398
ghostc1400
wormes warec1400
corpusc1440
scadc1440
reliefc1449
martc1480
cadaverc1500
mortc1500
tramort?a1513
hearse1530
bulk1575
offal1581
trunk1594
cadaverie1600
relicts1607
remains1610
mummya1616
relic1636
cold meat1788
mortality1827
death bone1834
deader1853
stiff1859
1607 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois v. 70 Farewell braue relicts of a compleat man: Looke vp and see thy spirit made a star.
a1649 W. Drummond Poems (1656) 176 The blushing Hyacinth and Rose Spred on the Place his Relicts do enclose.
a1760 I. H. Browne Poems (1768) sig. Iv Under this marble stone intomb'd are laid The precious relicts of a pious Maid.
1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. vii. 320 (note) The original church of Dunkeld..was built..for the reception of the relicts of St. Columba.
1997 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Mar. 44 A gilded wood chasse in the shape of a small Gothic chapel, it was designed to hold relicts of the saint, whose detailed martyrdom is painted on its sides.
d. A thing or (occasionally) a person that has survived or is left over from an earlier period; a relic or trace of some era, system, belief, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [noun] > object from the past or antique
antique1530
relic1605
relict1646
venerable1803
morceau de musée1896
period piece1909
society > communication > indication > marking > a mark > trace or vestige > [noun]
signa1382
stepa1382
ficchingc1384
marka1400
tracesc1400
scentc1422
footstep?a1425
tidinga1440
relicc1475
smell?a1505
stead1513
vestigy1545
print1548
token1555
remnant1560
show1561
mention1564
signification1576
footing?1580
tract1583
remainder1585
vestige1602
wrack1602
engravement1604
footstepping1610
resent1610
ghost1613
impression1613
remark1624
footprint1625
studdle1635
vestigium1644
relict1646
perception1650
vestigiary1651
track1657
symptom1722
signacle1768
ray1773
vestigia1789
footmark1800
souvenir1844
latent1920
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [noun] > remains > a survival > person
fag-ender1828
relict1928
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. xxi. 265 To breake the eggeshell after the meat is out..is but a superstitious relict . View more context for this quotation
1761 D. Hume Hist. Eng. III. lxi. 320 This parliament took into consideration..the taking away of tithes, which they called a relict of Judaism.
1821 J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. (1871) iii. 271 The Winchester bushel is the only existing relict of the old English system.
1861 R. M. Macbrair Africans at Home 137 This seems to be a mere relict of the pagan Devil-worship.
1928 Daily Express 3 July 10/2 Our British boards of railway directors are like an ante-room to a museum. They are crowded with relicts of the easy pre-war age for whom the world has never changed.
2002 P. Brode Courted & Abandoned viii. 129 A brutal relict of a time when a man had absolute domain over his wife.
e. Biology. A relict species (cf. relict adj. 5b); = relic n. 2c. Cf. living fossil n. at living adj. and n.1 Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > physical arrangement or condition > [noun] > relict structure
relict1811
the world > life > biology > taxonomy > taxon > [noun] > species or sub-species > relict species
relict1811
relic1873
1811 J. Parkinson Org. Remains Former World III. xxix. 404 One might really believe that they [sc. the sloths] are the remains of another order of things, the living relicts of that pre-existing state.
1895 T. J. McCormack tr. E. Mach Pop. Sci. Lect. 63 Many animal species long since conquered, the relicts of ages past, still live in remote regions where their enemies cannot reach them.
1927 Daily Express 31 Aug. 5 The survival of some ice-age relicts in the freshwater fauna of Cardiganshire.
1950 Jrnl. Ecol. 38 294 A few relicts of the former open fen are to be seen in the form of scattered plants of Cirsium palustre..and Angelica sylvestris.
1971 Nature 5 Feb. 377/2 Rare plant species are often relicts surviving in restricted ecological niches. The opportunities for these species to spread to other, suitable habitats are minimal.
2005 C. Tudge Secret Life Trees v. 110 Truly the remaining redwoods are ‘relicts’, for 100 million years ago..there were a dozen more species of redwood.
f. Linguistics. A form, particle, vocabulary, etc., which is a survival of an earlier language or linguistic system. Cf. relic n. 4e. relict area = relic area n. at relic n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1823 D. Scot Murray's Hist. European Langs. I. iv. 45 The present English genitive in s, as in heart's, eye's, queen's, &c. is the relict of this ancient adjective form.
a1826 T. Jefferson Ess. Anglo-Saxon & Mod. Dial. Eng. Lang. (1851) 29 The e final of the English is a relict of the Anglo-Saxon practice of ending a word with a final vowel.
1890 H. M. Percival Milton's Samson Agonistes 181 (note) ‘Flee’ (a relict of the Northern dialect) used for ‘fly’.
1934 R. C. Priebsch & W. E. Collinson German Lang. vii. 364 Often we find a wedge of linguistic innovation along the rivers and highways with relict-areas preserving ancient forms on the high moors and along the wooded hills.
1979 B. Comrie in T. Shopen Langs. & their Status 1987 iii. 107 (note) It is a relict of an earlier system in Slavic before the animacy distinction developed as a grammatical category.
1994 S. Pinker Lang. Instinct viii. 247 It is often said that the dialects of the Ozarks and Appalachia are a relict of Elizabethan English, but this is just a quaint myth.
2001 Medium Ævum (Nexis) 70 328 McSparran uses modern dialectology to isolate non-Southwest Midland dialect relicts in the poems..and to show how the relicts divide these works into various groups.
g. Geology and Geography. A rock or landform surviving from a previous age or in changed circumstances after the extinction or disappearance of related forms or structures. Cf. relict adj. 5a.
ΚΠ
1891 H. McCalley Rep. Coal Meas. Plateau Region Alabama 204 Berry Mountain, Foust Mountain, and a few prominent ridges only remain as monuments of the past and relicts of the wreck produced by erosion.
1915 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 23 87 Cambro-Silurian sediments of which widespread relicts remain were deposited upon a generally even surface.
1940 Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geogr. 30 265 Within the north temperate zone modern processes may be blurred by relicts of the processes of glacial time.
1977 A. Hallam Planet Earth 17/2 The breccias are revealing to us the relicts of an original lunar crust that formed and was reconstituted several times.
1990 A. S. Trenhaile Geomorphol. Canada vii. 120 Continuous and thick permafrost in the subarctic is probably a relict of more severe climatic conditions in the past.
2005 C. W. Passchier & R. A. J. Trouw Microtectonics (ed. 2) iii. 56/1 In a statically recrystallised fabric it is commonly possible to recognise relicts of a largely destroyed older structure.
a. A deserted or abandoned person. Obsolete. rare.Apparently only in Warner.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [noun] > lack of friends > person
relict1584
derelict1728
destitute1737
lonely-heart1931
1584 W. Warner Pan his Syrinx xxi. sig. I3 v [I] must now liue obscurely..the most wretched Relict of so notorious a Dissembler.
1592 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) vii. xxxvi. 156 Her too much wronged Relict might (as well he might) be greeu'd.
1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) xi. lxix. 289 Him blesseth he to whome doth he one of his Relicts giue.
b. In plural. That which is left behind or rejected; leavings; refuse. Cf. relic n. 2b. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun]
wrakea1350
outcastingc1350
rammel1370
rubble1376
mullockc1390
refusec1390
filtha1398
outcasta1398
chaff?a1400
rubbishc1400
wastec1430
drossc1440
raff?1440
rascal1440
murgeonc1450
wrack1472
gear1489
garblec1503
scowl1538
raffle1543
baggage1549
garbage1549
peltry1550
gubbins?1553
lastage1553
scruff1559
retraict1575
ross1577
riddings1584
ket1586
scouring1588
pelf1589
offal1598
rummage1598
dog's meat1606
retriment1615
spitling1620
recrement1622
mundungus1637
sordes1640
muskings1649
rejectament1654
offscouring1655
brat1656
relicts1687
offage1727
litter1730
rejectamenta1795
outwale1825
detritus1834
junk1836
wastements1843
croke1847–78
sculch1847
debris1851
rumble1854
flotsam1861
jetsam1861
pelt1880
offcasting1893
rubbishry1894
littering1897
muckings1898
wastage1898
dreck1905
bruck1929
crap1934
garbo1953
clobber1965
dooky1965
grot1971
tippings-
1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. xviii. 107 Salt meats are relicts [Fr. reliques] to them, and they feed on nothing but Beans, Pease, Eggs and Bisket.
1700 G. Booth tr. Diodorus Siculus Hist. Libr. xvi. viii. 498 After this Destruction of the Sidonians, by which the whole City and Inhabitants were consum'd to Ashes, the King sold the Rubbish and Relicts of the Fire [Gk. τὴν πυρκαϊὰν] for many Talents.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson ii. iv. 167 The broken jars, ashes, and fish-bones..being doubtless the relicts of the cruiser stationed off that Port.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > right of possession or ownership > right to succeed to title, position, or estate > succession > [noun] > descent by inheritance > that which is inherited
etheleOE
heritagea1225
ereward-richea1325
reversiona1325
patrimony1357
succession1382
inheriteson1470
heredity?c1550
inheritage1557
long acre1608
relict1726
post-obit1812
hand-me-down1909
1726 in H. Campbell Love Lett. Mary Queen of Scots (1824) 18 I..look on myself but as the steward of a glorious relict.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
relictadj.
/ˈrɛlɪkt/, U.S. /ˈrɛlɪk(t)/ I. That has been left.† 1. Allowed to remain untouched or undisturbed. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > not doing > abstaining or refraining from action > [adjective] > from interference > not interfered with
unmeddleda1425
relict?1440
unintromitted1563
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) x. 199 (MED) A vyne whos fruyt humour wol putrifie, Pampyned is to be by euery side, Relicte [L. seruanda] on hit oonly the croppis hie.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 140 (MED) Nature..is now sette for vice & infirmite..in asmuche as his mevinge, lafte & relicte to himself [L. sibi relictus], drawiþ euere to euel & to lowe þinges.
2. (a) Of land: left by the retreat of a body of water, esp. the sea. (b) Of property: abandoned, deserted. Cf. derelict adj. 1.With quot. 1584, Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) suggests: ‘Of land: ?Uncultivated, fallow.’
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [adjective] > real or immovable > consisting of landed property > types of landed property
unquit-out1496
relict1584
prime1634
lotted1678
non-resident1747
jointured1818
undedicated1881
the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [adjective] > forming
shoring1581
relict1584
relicteda1676
1584 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) III. 356/2 Thaynok with the pendiclis viz ouircroarsis, the relict and grene fauld with the cottage of the samin, the landis of Vrquhany [etc.].
a1676 M. Hale De Jure Maris i. iv, in F. Hargrave Coll. Tracts Law Eng. (1787) 14 No answer is given to the title of information for lands relict, for these were of several natures.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1691) iv. 68 If the Relict Lands, and the immovables left behind upon them, may be sold.
1830 R. G. Hall Ess. on Rights of Crown 165 Custom or prescription cannot entitle the subject to relict lands.
1999 J. J. Pigram & J. M. Jenkins Outdoor Recreation Managem. (2002) iv. 64 Urban centres often have to ‘make do’ with fragmented pockets of relict land.
2005 A. Newlin Horn of Plenty v. xxv. 172 Does ownership cede to the state? And if it does, would the relict land..belong to the previous owner, the state and not the heirs?
3. Esp. of a spouse: left by death, surviving. Cf. relict n. 1. Now rare (historical in later use).In recent use perhaps an attributive use of the noun (cf. branch II.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > continuance or tenacity of life > [adjective]
unslowc1000
unslaina1325
unmortificatea1475
unkilled1546
survivanta1575
unmurdered1586
relict1587
surviving1594
survivor1602
superstitea1623
unmassacreda1627
to the fore1695
unslaughtered1719
unbutchered1835
unassassinated1842
unimmolated1855
unmartyred1908
1577 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1878) 1st Ser. II. 664 In the saidis Margaret Dundas as relict executrice..and hir said spous for his interes passive.]
1587 in Bannatyne Misc. (1836) II. 207 Agnes Pennycuike, his relict spous.
a1618 P. Simson Hist. Church (1624) i. 63 The towne of Newcastle..hee obtained by meanes of..the relict widow of the sayd Vaivod.
1649 Bp. J. Hall Resol. & Decisions iv. ii. 406 If upon the departure of an unbeleeving or heretical yokefellow, the relict party must be tyed up.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Linc. 159 His Relict Lady..lived long in Westminster.
1688 J. Eliot Let. 7 July in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) VI. 258 It being in the hand of major Gookins relict widdow.
1760 Mod. Part Universal Hist. XXIII. xix. 318/2 As for his relict queen Adela, after governing the kingdom as regent..she died [etc.].
1881 C. D. Warner Captain John Smith 238 His brother..petitioned that the estate of John should be converted to the support of his relict wife and children.
1992 J. L. Comaroff & J. Comaroff Ethnogr. & Hist. Imagination iii. x. 278 Relict wives and daughters reassumed responsibility for what survived of local agriculture.
II. That is a relict, in various senses.
4. Linguistics. Of or relating to a relict (relict n. 3f); (of a word, form, language, etc.) that is a relict.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > [adjective] > living, dead, or archaic
forsakena1613
living1657
mort1659
modern1699
middle1830
archaic1832
relict1887
1887 Scribner's Mag. 2 505 These relict-names still survive to prove their [sc. the various races'] former separateness.
1947 R. C. Priebsch & W. E. Collinson German Lang. (ed. 2) i. 14 The Logudoresian dialect retains certain relict-words with affinities in Basque.
1963 H. C. Darby in Brown & Foote Early English & Norse Stud. ii. 9 Another example of relict names is found on Dunsmore Heath.
1989 Agric. Hist. 63 292 Many words which are obsolescent in England today remain in usage in downeast Maine, as relict words in the vernacular.
2005 R. L. Bland & K. G. Solovjova tr. A. V. Grinev Tlingit Indians i. 24 Quite recently, a southern relict dialect of the Tlingit language was discovered.
5.
a. Geology and Geography. Designating a mineral, landform, etc., which remains despite processes tending to destroy it, or the destruction or removal of surrounding areas. Cf. relic adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > that which is left or remainder > [adjective]
remanent1443
remainant1445
remainingc1475
remnant1550
remainder1567
leftc1595
residual1609
residuous1626
reliqued1628
restant1663
good1684
reversionary1816
relict1898
1898 J. Geikie Earth Sculpt. xvi. 274 The direction, and to a large extent the shape or form of relict mountains, are thus mainly determined by the geological structure.
1939 W. H. Twenhofel Princ. Sedimentation xii. 459 Relict seas are bodies of water that have become separated from the parent body by diastrophic, depositional, or volcanic causes.
1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. xvi. 413 Relict features attributable to former existence of periglacial conditions have been described at many places in Europe and North America.
1972 S. R. Kashyap in A. G. Jhingran et al. Himalayan Geol. II. 275 Relict minerals occur as inclusions showing structural and optical continuity.
2004 J. A. Pfänder & A. Kröner in T. M. Kusky Precambrian Ophiolites & Related Rocks vi. 216 These rocks underwent low-grade metamorphism and are more or less altered, thus only relict minerals are present.
b. Biology. Of a species: existing in small, isolated populations which are the remnants of a formerly extensive distribution, typically having survived a significant change in circumstances such as an ice age; (also) surviving while other species in its group have become extinct. Also: of or relating to such a species. Cf. relic adj. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > taxonomy > taxon > [adjective] > species or sub-species
univocal1638
specific1650
subspecific1795
conspecific1859
racial1884
co-specific1889
relic1889
relict1899
intraspecific1919
monospecific1921
intraspecies1927
supraspecific1936
infra-specific1939
supraspecies1960
species-uniform1968
1899 R. F. Scharff Hist. European Fauna iv. 188 The so-called ‘relict species’—marine animals left in freshwater lakes in districts formerly covered by this sea.
1945 M. J. D. White Animal Cytol. & Evol. xiii. 293 [Saga serrata] seems to be a ‘relict’ species, since the localities in which it occurs are very discontinuous and the individual populations of very small size.
1974 J. D. Millman Recent Sedimentary Carbonates I. vii. 221 Coralline algae in continental shelf sediments may be relict but others are modern.
1983 E. C. Minkoff Evolutionary Biol. xxiii. 386/1 This particular disjunct distribution is also a relict distribution—the remains of a once more extensive continuous distribution.
2007 R. Preston Wild Trees (2008) iv. 218 The coast redwood is a so-called relict species. It is a tiny remnant population of a life form that once spread in splendor and power across the face of nature.
6. gen. Of an object, feature, etc.: surviving from an earlier period; that is a relict or trace of some previous system or era.
ΚΠ
1938 Ann. Assoc. Amer. Geographers 28 200 Remnants of three or four chimney piles and the trench of a palisade... There is no way of knowing with which of the possible French posts..these relict forms were associated.
1978 T. Rowley Villages in Landscape ii. 49 Village plans may include relict features of early defensive structures, such as the alignment of Roman town walls.
1996 I. Jenkins & K. Sloan Vases & Volcanoes 180/3 These inscriptions flaked off, leaving only a ghost of what was once there. On close inspection, however, the relict inscriptions are still legible.
2001 Geogr. Rev. (Nexis) 1 Jan. Relict towns in Leon so remote that some who despised the regime of the generalissimo in Spain..could find refuge.
7. Astronomy. = relic adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > [adjective] > origin > specific
chaodical1651
chaotical1664
chaotic1690
relic1966
relict1967
1967 Astronomicheskiĭ Zhurnal 44 1131 The discovery of inhomogeneities in the microwave relict radiation should be the experimental test for this hypothesis.
1976 Astron. & Astrophysics 49 437/1 The missing mass may be explained by the relict cosmological neutrinos, produced in the hot era following the Big Bang.
1998 Jrnl. Exper. & Theoret. Physics 86 213 The gamma-rays can be generated in collisions of extragalactic protons with relict photons.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1460adj.?1440