rhetoricn.¹

Brit.

/ˈrɛtərɪk/, U.S.

/ˈrɛdərɪk/

Forms: Middle English reteryke, Middle English retherique, Middle English rethorice, Middle English rethorik, Middle English rethorikke, Middle English rethoriqe, Middle English rethoryk, Middle English rethoryke, Middle English rethorykk, Middle English rethoryque, Middle English retorik, Middle English retorique, Middle English retorryke, Middle English retoryk, Middle English retris (transmission error), Middle English retteoryk, Middle English rettorike, Middle English–1500s rethorique, Middle English–1500s retoryke, Middle English–1600s rethorike, Middle English– rhetoric, 1500s rethoricke, 1500s retorike, 1500s rhetorik, 1500s rhetoryck, 1500s rhetorycke, 1500s–1600s rethoric, 1500s–1600s rethorick, 1500s–1600s rhethorick, 1500s–1600s rhethorike, 1500s–1600s rhethorique, 1500s–1600s rhetoricke, 1500s–1600s rhetorike, 1500s–1600s rhetorique, 1500s–1700s rhetorick, 1600s reth'rick, 1600s retorick, 1600s rhetorke, 1600s rhet'rique, 1600s–1700s rhet'ric, 1600s–1700s rhet'rick, 1700s retrick; Scottish pre-1700 rethorick, pre-1700 rethorik, pre-1700 rethorike, pre-1700 rethoryk, pre-1700 retoric, pre-1700 retorik, pre-1700 retoryk, pre-1700 rhetorick, pre-1700 1700s– rhetoric; N.E.D. (1908) also records a form Middle English rethorick.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French rethorik; Latin rhētoricē.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman rethorik, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French rethorique, Middle French retorique (French rhétorique ) (as one of the liberal arts) art of speaking and writing well and persuasively or with eloquence (12th cent.), eloquence, facility of expression (14th cent.), treatise on rhetoric (14th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rhētoricē (Quintilian; also rhētorica (Cicero; see below), in post-classical Latin also rethorica (7th cent.)) art of public speaking, oratory < ancient Greek ῥητορική , use as noun (short for ῥητορικὴ τέχνη ) of feminine of ῥητορικός rhetoric adj. Compare also classical Latin rhētoricī (masculine plural, short for librī rhētoricī ) books on rhetoric (Quintilian's name for Cicero's De Inventione), rhētoricus (singular) particular book in this work, rhētorica (neuter plural) teachings on rhetoric. Compare Old Occitan rethorica (13th cent.), Catalan retòrica (13th cent.), Spanish retorica (c1250), Portuguese retórica (14th cent.), Italian retorica (a1294). Compare rhetoric n.², rhetoric adj.Classical Latin rhētorica may be interpreted either as a naturalization (i.e. Latinization) of the form rhētoricē , or as use as noun (short for ars rhētorica ) of the feminine of rhētoricus rhetoric adj.

a. The art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to this end; the study of principles and rules to be followed by a speaker or writer striving for eloquence, esp. as formulated by ancient Greek and Roman writers.In the Middle Ages rhetoric was included in the seven liberal arts and was taught as part of the trivium (see trivium n.).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun]

rhetoricc1330

pronunciation?a1439

rhetory?a1500

well-speaking1511

oratorya1522

rhetorism1569

declaiming1577

pronouncec1600

acroama1603

eloquence1623

rhetoricalness1670

hypocritic1776

union1834

Speakership1887

oracy1965

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > [noun] > sense of language > art of using words

rhetoricc1330

wordcraft1804

wordsmanship1917

c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) 6 (MED) Þerinne was paint..alle þe seuen ars; Þe firste was grammarie..Rettorike and ek fisike.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 361 (MED) Aristotle..tauȝte faire and noble spekynge as it is specialliche i-sene..in his Dyalogus of Poetis and in Tretys of Rethorik.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1402 (MED) Evene lik as rethorik doth teche, He gan his tale so by crafte conveie.

c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 665 (MED) Was neuer clerk by rethoryk nor scyence Koude alle hir vertues reherse.

c1475 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) 90 (MED) Of Sophestrie she was also witty, Of Rhetoric, and of other clergye.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. ix. 34 The therde of the vii sciences is called Rethoryque.

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 1 Rhetorique is an art to set furthe by utteraunce of wordes matter at large.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. B7 Manye excellent Figures and places of Rhetorique.

1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 48 Rhetorick is conversant in Singulars, not in universalls.

1691 D. Gregory Let. 8 Aug. in I. Newton Corr. (1961) III. 157 Besides these four regents there is in some coledges a fifth..who..teaches Roman Authors, Rhethorick, and the beginnings of Geography and Chronology, to those who have passed the Grammar School but are willing to be further instructed in Latin befor they begin to read Greek.

1700 P. Danet Compl. Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. sig. Ss4 At fifteen years of age he taught Rhetorick with general applause.

1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 350 Rhetorick in general is the Art of Perswading.

1800 J. Salmon Hist. Descr. Anc. & Mod. Rome II. 92 Tradition says, that St. Augustin taught rhetoric here before he went to Milan.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. Introd. §3 The communication of those thoughts to others falls under the consideration of Rhetoric.

1889 Times 1 Aug. 8/1 The art of rhetoric should be more studied.

1922 W. M. Tanner Composition & Rhetoric i. 2 Rhetoric consists of the study of the principles governing the clear, forceful, and elegant expression of thoughts.

1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 210/1 The elaborate genre of a treatise on rhetoric and dramaturgy designed as a panegyric.

2002 Church Times 15 Nov. 22/4 Rhetoric..was in some respects the Cinderella subject of the trivium in the Middle Ages.

b. As a personification. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of meaning > [noun] > personification

rhetoric?c1400

prosopopoeia1563

feigning of person1573

personification1728

personifying1728

personization1890

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. i. l. 761 Wiþ Rethorice com forþe musice a damoisel of oure house.

?1435 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 638 (MED) Rethoryk hadde eke in hire presence Tulyus, called Mirrour off Eloquence.

c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) cxcvii (MED) Gowere and Chaucere..on the steppis satt Of rethorike.

1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo l. 11 in Wks. (1931) I For quhy the bell of Rethorick bene roung Be Chawceir, Goweir, and Lidgate laureate.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. vii. 73 Some condemne Rhetorick as the mother of lies.

1662 Duchess of Newcastle Several Wits iv. xxxvii, in Playes Written 114 My lips shall be as flowery banks, whereon sweet Rhethorick grows, and cipherous fancy blows.

1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 24 There stript, fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground.

1809 Port Folio July 14 Behold how enamoured of herself is Rhetoric with her ornaments and colours.

1902 Catholic Univ. Bull. Apr. 222 Dionysius is a faithful slave of Dame Rhetoric.

1992 C. Desmet Reading Shakespeare's Characters vi. 135 In the Renaissance, Orator's sketchy personification of Rhetoric, with her curled hair and pink and white complexion, becomes a familiar figure.

c. A treatise on the theory and practice of rhetoric; (also) a textbook dealing with the art of rhetoric.Now frequently as the title of the treatise by Aristotle.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > treatise on or body of

rhetoricc1450

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4360 (MED) Ne rede we neuire na retorik ne rial to speke.

c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 111 Jn a buke yat he maid callit Retorik.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Rhetoricus In primo Ciceronis rhetorico.., in the firste booke of Ciceroes rhetorike.

1580 G. Harvey in Three Proper Lett. 32 To bring our Language into Arte, and to frame a Grammer or Rhetorike thereof.

1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha i. xi. 63 It is a good Counsell (which Aristotle giueth in his Rhetorikes ad Theodectem).

1628 in A. Morgan Univ. Edinb. Charters (1937) 111 The regent instructes theme in the Rethorick of Cassander or any uther commoun rethorick.

1654 T. Blount (title) The Academie of Eloquence, Containing a Compleat English Rhetorique.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 297. ¶17 Aristotle himself has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art.

1793 V. Knox Personal Nobility xiii. 70 You may wonder, perhaps, that I do not recommend the rhetoric of Aristotle. I leave it to your future studies.

1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 449/2 Aristotle's Rhetoric is not only the best treatise upon this subject, but a model of profound thinking and reasoning.

1881 A. Trollope Life of Cicero II. xi. 249 It is well known that Cicero's works are divided into four main parts. There are the Rhetoric, the Orations, the Epistles, and the Philosophy.

1978 College Eng. 40 67 Thomas Wilson's Arte or Crafte of Rhetoric (1553) was the first rhetoric in English to be widely used.

1993 C. Richardson tr. G. Manetti Theories of Sign in Classical Antiq. v. 71 In the classification of the types of speech set out in his Rhetoric, Aristotle identified two categories of intended receiver of speech.

d. Usually with capital initial. The senior class (or one of the more senior classes) in some Roman Catholic schools, esp. Stonyhurst College and St Edmund's College, Ware. †to make one's rhetoric: to be a member of this class (obsolete).The term is associated principally with Jesuit colleges (such as Stonyhurst) following the order's Ratio studiorum (1599), and remains in international use.

ΘΚΠ

society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > Roman Catholic or Jesuit > specific form

rhetoric1599

syntax1628

figures1629

grammar1629

poetry1629

rudiments1716

underlow1837

1599 in H. Foley Rec. Eng. Province Soc. of Jesus (1879) V. 569 I have made my rhetoric in these parts.

c1620 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll. (1881) 8 They go down two by two with their books under their arms, and first those in Rhetoric, into the Refectory.

1791 G. Haydock Let. in J. Gillow Haydock Papers (1888) 91 I have been about half a year in poetry..being only preparation to the schools which follow, viz. rhetoric, philosophy, and divinity.

1879 E. Waterton Pietas Mariana Britannica i. i. iii. 27 (note) Rhetoric, Poetry, and Syntax, and the four lower schools.

1908 Stonyhurst Mag. in Tablet 25 Apr. 646/2 We are informed that any boy from Rhetoric down to Elements may join the class.

1946 D. Gwynn Bishop Challoner iii. 39 By the summer of 1708 he had passed through the two higher classes of Poetry and Rhetoric.

c1990 Stonyhurst Coll. Prospectus 3 As he progresses through the College he moves to Grammar, Syntax, Poetry and Rhetoric.

e. Literary prose composition, esp. as a school exercise. Now rare (chiefly U.S. in later use).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > [noun] > writing of prose > esp. as exercise

rhetoric1783

1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xiv. 272 On the subject of Figures of Speech, all the writers who treat of rhetoric or composition, have insisted largely.

1828 R. Whately Elem. Rhetoric 4 Some writers have spoken of Rhetoric as the Art of Composition, universally; or, with the exclusion of Poetry alone, as embracing all Prose-composition.

1944 H. J. C. Grierson Rhetoric & Eng. Composition p. iii Of University teaching in English I had enjoyed just fifty lectures at Aberdeen, of which twenty-five were devoted to Rhetoric or, as Rhetoric had come to mean under Dr. Alexander Bain and his successor William Minto, English Composition.

1953 T. S. Eliot Amer. Lit. & Amer. Lang. 5 I am happy to remember that in those days English composition was still called Rhetoric.

1978 H. S. Wiener Any Child can Write i. 3 There is the world of ideas and the way a writer puts those ideas together. Often called ‘rhetoric’ or ‘composition’, this aspect of writing is the product of the way a mind works in dealing with thoughts.

†a. Elegance or eloquence of language. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > elegance > [noun]

facunda1340

rhetoricc1405

elegancy?a1475

elegance?1504

facundity1530

grace1530

festivity1542

roundness1557

concinnity1577

style1589

comptness1611

politeness1627

concinneness1655

speakingness1851

style1851

daintiness1878

yugen1921

simplex munditiis1933

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 32 Fraunceys Petrak..Highte this clerk whos Rethoryk swete Enlumyned al Ytaille of Poetrie.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 4699 (MED) Noble Galfride..made first to reyne Þe gold dewe-dropis of rethorik so fyne.

a1456 J. Shirley in E. P. Hammond Eng. Verse Between Chaucer & Surrey (1927) 195 Of eloquencyale retorryke In Englisshe was neuer noon him [sc. Chaucer] lyke.

a1500 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 615 (MED) I in my translacioun..Of rethoryk have no maner floure.

1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 187 Thare was Mercurius, wise and eloquent, Of rethorike that fand the flouris faire.

b. An elegant expression; a rhetorical flourish; (also) a rhetorical figure. Also in extended use. Chiefly in plural. rare after 17th cent.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > embellishment > an) ornament(s)

coloursc1405

rhetoricc1425

gaudc1430

flower1508

flourish1603

embellishment1632

flosculation1651

floscule1669

gayness1670

floresa1734

taga1734

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > rhetoric > rhetorical terms

rhetoric1543

distribution1553

anamnesis1656

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 868 (MED) Þer-in stod an aw[n]cien poete, For to reherse by rethorikes swete Þe noble dedis..Of kynges.

a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 19774 (MED) That poete [sc. Chaucer], Wyth al hys rethorykes swete..was the ffyrste in any age.

1543 J. Bale Yet Course at Romyshe Foxe sig. Dij Neuer coude tolwyn throughlye knowe what these rhetoryckes ment, as are denuncyacyon, deteccyon, and presentacyon.

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. ii. 116 Graue and wise counsellours..do much mislike all scholasticall rhetoricks.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 42 b Their fantastique Rhetoriques, Who trim their Poesies with schooleboy-tricks.

1676 News from Sessions House 5 The charming Rhetoricks of a Gray head, comely Visage, demure Countenance, and plausible tongue.

1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote III. v. 51 Don't puzzle my Brains with your Harrangues and Retricks.

1889 Frank Leslie's Sunday Mag. Mar. 225/2 Flowers are the figures and rhetorics of vegetation, just as, conversely, figures of speech are the flowers of language.

1942 W. Stevens Parts of World 143 Midsummer love and softest silences, Weather of night creatures, whistling all day, too, And echoing rhetorics more than our own.

1976 Sunday Times (Lagos) 3 Oct. 10/4 We cannot decide on the fundamental values and goals that will bind the present and future generations on the basis of vague ideas, irrelevant foreign slogans and rhetorics.

c. Eloquent, elegant, or ornate language, esp. speech or writing expressed in terms calculated to persuade. Frequently depreciative: language characterized by artificial, insincere, or ostentatious expression; inflated or empty verbiage. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > rhetoric

rhetory?a1500

rhetoric1559

rope-ripe1584

inkle-eloquence1774

rhetoricianism1842

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [noun] > affectation

affectation1548

rhetoric1559

affection1570

manner1706

mannerism1803

posh1915

1559 D. Lindsay Dreme in Wks. (1931) I. 21 The portratour of that p[a]lace..is..By rethorike..inpronunciabyll.

1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 25 As I persaue rethorik thairof verray small, swa I can espy na thing thairin abhorring fra the treuth.

1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. Aij^v Nor your faire pretense, by such rashe ragged Rhetorike, any whit, well graced.

1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 24 Heere is no substance, but a simple peece Of gaudy Rhetoricke.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 4 And the perswasive Rhetoric That sleek't his tongue.

1733 J. Swift Lett. (1766) II. 189 The one word from you, is of much more weight than my rhetoric.

1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 491 Modern senators..Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who swear for fame!

1825 T. B. Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 345 The sublime wisdom of the Areopagitica, and the nervous rhetoric of the Iconoclast.

1845 Amer. Whig. Rev. Feb. 188/1 You add the tenderest poetic sensibility..and sorrowful notions respecting ‘this life’, with the most eloquent rhetoric.

1880 A. C. Swinburne Study of Shakespeare 269 The limp loquacity of long-winded rhetoric, so natural to men and soldiers in an hour of emergency.

1903 Q. Rev. Apr. 441 There is no artificial rhetoric in his phrasing, there are no ornamental words daubed over his page.

1941 W. H. Auden in Southern Rev. 6 729 Around them boomed the rhetoric of time.

1960 Times 21 Oct. 8/1 All his rhetoric and special pleading tonight does not alter that fact.

1984 D. Cupitt Sea of Faith v. 144 The rhetoric is brilliant, but even some of Marx's colleagues disapproved of such fireworks.

1993 Jrnl. Interamerican Stud. & World Affairs 35 107 For all his rhetoric, Castro does not really care that much about the Cuban people.

†d. ironic (chiefly humorous). Blunt or crude speech. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [noun] > lowness of style

rhetoric1580

lowness1630

broadness1685

breadth1849

1580 G. Harvey in E. Spenser & G. Harvey Three Proper & Wittie Lett. 14 Like a drunken man, or women (when their Alebench Rhetorick commes vpon them).

1595 W. S. Lamentable Trag. Locrine ii. iv. sig. F2^v I think you were broght vp in the vniuersitie of bridewell, you haue your rhetorick so ready at your toongs end.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xiv. 316 Some of them vpbraiding both him and other Christians with the names of dogs, Ethnickes, vnbeleeuers, and the like zealous Rhetorick.

1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. i. xvii. 127 The Rhetorick of John the Hostler, with a new Straw Hat, and a Pint of Wine, made a second Conquest over her.

a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. Verse & Prose (1764) I. 308 Fearless he of shouts Or taunts, the rhetoric of the wat'ry crew.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 450 He [sc. Jeffreys] acquired a boundless command of the rhetoric in which the vulgar express hatred and contempt.

3. Skill in or talent for using eloquent and persuasive language. Chiefly with possessive adjective. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [noun] > skill in

rhetorica1450

the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > skill in

rhetorica1450

fluence1607

fluency1814

a1450 Partonope of Blois (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1912) 8870 (MED) These lordes are chosyn be myn assent: The fyrst ys the kyng of Affryke, For his grete wytte and his retoryke [v.r. reteryke].

c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 103 (MED) Euery man that herde him did blisse theimselfe for the grete mervayle that they sawe in his retentyfe witte and also of his fayir rethoryke.

1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. xxix Though he be wyse, and of myght meruaylous Endued with retoryke and with eloquence.

1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Spirituall Husbandry i. in tr. Popish Kingdome 68 On this bestow thy Rhetoricke, and all that thou canst say.

1637 J. Milton Comus 27 Enjoy your deere Wit, and gay Rhetorick That hath so well beene taught her dazling fence.

1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos Pref. p. vii The highest Encomium..that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent.

1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 171. ¶12 Joseph..endeavour'd, with all his Art and Rhetorick, to set out the Excess of Herod's Passion for her.

1753 T. Gray Long Story in Six Poems 21 But soon his rhetorick forsook him.

1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 961/1 I used all my rhetoric on the occasion—but in vain.

1909 J. W. Mackail Springs of Helicon iii. 115 ‘What May-game hath misfortune made of you?’ the Amazon asks Artegall when she finds him in prison, touched by surprise to forget all her rhetoric.

4. In extended use.

a. The use of an expressive or persuasive gesture, look, or action; a gesture made, course of action taken, etc., in order to persuade. Also: the persuasiveness or expressiveness of communication of this kind. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [noun] > persuasiveness

motion1533

persuasion1540

rhetoric1569

Suada1592

persuasiveness1611

suasiveness1727

society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun] > in oratory

rhetoric1569

action1579

chironomy1670

1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. xxi This daunsinge or Histrionical Rhetorike in the ende beganne to be lefte of all Oratours.

1587 R. Greene Euphues sig. K For he considered with himselfe,..that liberality was the soundest rethoricke.

1597 N. Breton Wits Trenchmour sig. E1 Silence can best talke with woodden Rethoricke.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 57 The heauenly Rethorique of thine eye.

1644 J. Bulwer (title) Chirologia..wherevnto is added Chironomia: or, The art of manuall rhetorique.

1647 A. Cowley Rich Rival in Mistress ii Whilst thy sole Rhetorick shall be Joynture, and Jewels, and Our Friends agree.

1669 E. Stillingfleet 6 Serm. iii. 127 Every part of the Tragedy of his [sc. the Son of God's] life, every wound at his death,..were designed by him as the most prevailing Rhetorick, to perswade men to forsake their sins.

1716 J. Gay Trivia iii. 74 Mov'd by the Rhet'rick of a Silver Fee.

1769 E. Griffith Delicate Distress lxxii, in R. Griffith & E. Griffith Two Novels II. 175 As the last, and most prevailing rhetoric, I offered him my purse.

1880 R. M. Jephson Pink Wedding III. iii. 68 He could not withstand the heavenly rhetoric of those upturned eyes.

1993 E. McVarish tr. J. Lichtenstein Eloquence of Color 32 A silence that is infinitely more persuasive than any discourse and that has always found the body's silent rhetoric its best example.

b. The structural elements, compositional techniques, and modes of expression used to produce a desired effect on a viewer, audience, etc., in music, dance, and the visual arts.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > artistic treatment or style

gusto1662

composition1695

style1706

expression1715

goût1717

handling1719

touching1743

conduct1758

rhetoric1851

treatment1856

1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. i. 11 His larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial rhetoric,—composition and colour.

1863 Continental Monthly May 564/2 No heavier censure can, however, be passed upon an artist, than that he possesses only the technic or rhetoric of art.

1932 Musical Q. 18 227 His principal aim is to impress us agreeably or to amuse us with ingenious turns of musical rhetoric.

1964 J. Summerson Classical Lang. Archit. iv. 33 Well, there are three buildings which, I believe, demonstrate..the ‘rhetoric’ of the Baroque.

1997 K. Toepfer Empire of Ecstasy 182 A collection of postcard photos depicting Anna Pavlova inspired her more than the bankrupt rhetoric of ballet did.

c. The language or discourse characteristically associated with a particular subject, concept, or set of ideas.

ΚΠ

1882 J. R. Seeley Nat. Relig. ii. ii. 138 We still recognize the feelings, we still hear the peculiar rhetoric, of religion.

1910 V. W. Brooks Soul 27 Rome gave the world rhetoric, both in literature and in life: in literature the rhetoric of Oratory and of Prosody, and in life the rhetoric of Conquest, of Patriotism, of Empire, and of Commerce.

1961 W. C. Booth (title) The rhetoric of fiction.

1976 Howard Jrnl. 15 i. 52 The rhetoric of treatment will have to be replaced by the reality of treatment.

1989 R. W. Dasenbrock in W. Lewis Art of Being Ruled 439 Lewis's primary object of attack is..the way a false rhetoric of individualism increasingly masks a ‘group think’ that is the very opposite of individualism.

2000 World Archael. 31 476 This verbal and material rhetoric of labour and dress began to impose distinct adult male and female statuses on the newborn.

Compounds

C1. General attributive, esp. with reference to the teaching of the art of rhetoric.

ΚΠ

1581 P. Wiburn Checke or Reproofe M. Howlets Shreeching f. 112 I wot not well howe it will agree with the Rhetorike Schooles about you.

1629 H. Burton Truth's Triumph xvi. 301 Alipius being present at one of my Rhetoricke Lectures in Carthage, I tooke occasion, being offered, to delight my Auditory with a Simile taken from the Circensian games.

1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. lxxxviii. 375 To declame..publikely in the Rhetorick school.

1698 E. Bellamy tr. J. Huarte Tryal Wits xii. 222 He read out of a Paper his Rhetoric-Lectures to his Scholars.

1762 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. VII. 42 [He] was soon after chosen rhetoric lecturer in his college.

1806 H. K. White Let. 30 July in Remains (1807) I. 235 The Rhetoric Lecturer sent me one of my Latin Essays to copy, for the purpose of inspection.

1868 J. G. Whittier in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 223 I ask no organ's soulless breath To drone the themes of life and death, No altar candle-lit by day, No ornate wordsman's rhetoric-play.

1917 F. Aydelotte Oxf. Stamp ix. 187 He would deal with no ideas in the rhetoric class except those proceeding from the rhetoric teacher and the text-book.

1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 9 Sept. m15 Miller is a rhetoric lecturer at the University of California.

C2. With past participles in adjectives with sense ‘characterized by being rhetorical, esp. excessively or unhelpfully so’.

ΚΠ

1884 Punch 23 Feb. 87 To unmask His rhetoric-shrouded weakness.

1978 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. 19 136 Its approach contrasts strikingly with that of the rhetoric-drenched writings of the Coupland–Williams era.

1994 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 3 Feb. 30/1 The film makes its point by showing how timebound and rhetoric-laden our expectations about sex are.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	rhetoric
释义	rhetoricn.¹ Brit. /ˈrɛtərɪk/, U.S. /ˈrɛdərɪk/ Forms: Middle English reteryke, Middle English retherique, Middle English rethorice, Middle English rethorik, Middle English rethorikke, Middle English rethoriqe, Middle English rethoryk, Middle English rethoryke, Middle English rethorykk, Middle English rethoryque, Middle English retorik, Middle English retorique, Middle English retorryke, Middle English retoryk, Middle English retris (transmission error), Middle English retteoryk, Middle English rettorike, Middle English–1500s rethorique, Middle English–1500s retoryke, Middle English–1600s rethorike, Middle English– rhetoric, 1500s rethoricke, 1500s retorike, 1500s rhetorik, 1500s rhetoryck, 1500s rhetorycke, 1500s–1600s rethoric, 1500s–1600s rethorick, 1500s–1600s rhethorick, 1500s–1600s rhethorike, 1500s–1600s rhethorique, 1500s–1600s rhetoricke, 1500s–1600s rhetorike, 1500s–1600s rhetorique, 1500s–1700s rhetorick, 1600s reth'rick, 1600s retorick, 1600s rhetorke, 1600s rhet'rique, 1600s–1700s rhet'ric, 1600s–1700s rhet'rick, 1700s retrick; Scottish pre-1700 rethorick, pre-1700 rethorik, pre-1700 rethorike, pre-1700 rethoryk, pre-1700 retoric, pre-1700 retorik, pre-1700 retoryk, pre-1700 rhetorick, pre-1700 1700s– rhetoric; N.E.D. (1908) also records a form Middle English rethorick. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French rethorik; Latin rhētoricē. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman rethorik, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French rethorique, Middle French retorique (French rhétorique ) (as one of the liberal arts) art of speaking and writing well and persuasively or with eloquence (12th cent.), eloquence, facility of expression (14th cent.), treatise on rhetoric (14th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rhētoricē (Quintilian; also rhētorica (Cicero; see below), in post-classical Latin also rethorica (7th cent.)) art of public speaking, oratory < ancient Greek ῥητορική , use as noun (short for ῥητορικὴ τέχνη ) of feminine of ῥητορικός rhetoric adj. Compare also classical Latin rhētoricī (masculine plural, short for librī rhētoricī ) books on rhetoric (Quintilian's name for Cicero's De Inventione), rhētoricus (singular) particular book in this work, rhētorica (neuter plural) teachings on rhetoric. Compare Old Occitan rethorica (13th cent.), Catalan retòrica (13th cent.), Spanish retorica (c1250), Portuguese retórica (14th cent.), Italian retorica (a1294). Compare rhetoric n.², rhetoric adj.Classical Latin rhētorica may be interpreted either as a naturalization (i.e. Latinization) of the form rhētoricē , or as use as noun (short for ars rhētorica ) of the feminine of rhētoricus rhetoric adj. 1. a. The art of using language effectively so as to persuade or influence others, esp. the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques to this end; the study of principles and rules to be followed by a speaker or writer striving for eloquence, esp. as formulated by ancient Greek and Roman writers.In the Middle Ages rhetoric was included in the seven liberal arts and was taught as part of the trivium (see trivium n.). ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] rhetoricc1330 pronunciation?a1439 rhetory?a1500 well-speaking1511 oratorya1522 rhetorism1569 declaiming1577 pronouncec1600 acroama1603 eloquence1623 rhetoricalness1670 hypocritic1776 union1834 Speakership1887 oracy1965 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > [noun] > sense of language > art of using words rhetoricc1330 wordcraft1804 wordsmanship1917 c1330 Seven Sages (Auch.) (1933) 6 (MED) Þerinne was paint..alle þe seuen ars; Þe firste was grammarie..Rettorike and ek fisike. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 361 (MED) Aristotle..tauȝte faire and noble spekynge as it is specialliche i-sene..in his Dyalogus of Poetis and in Tretys of Rethorik. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. 1402 (MED) Evene lik as rethorik doth teche, He gan his tale so by crafte conveie. c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 665 (MED) Was neuer clerk by rethoryk nor scyence Koude alle hir vertues reherse. c1475 (?c1300) Guy of Warwick (Caius) 90 (MED) Of Sophestrie she was also witty, Of Rhetoric, and of other clergye. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. ix. 34 The therde of the vii sciences is called Rethoryque. 1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 1 Rhetorique is an art to set furthe by utteraunce of wordes matter at large. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. sig. B7 Manye excellent Figures and places of Rhetorique. 1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 48 Rhetorick is conversant in Singulars, not in universalls. 1691 D. Gregory Let. 8 Aug. in I. Newton Corr. (1961) III. 157 Besides these four regents there is in some coledges a fifth..who..teaches Roman Authors, Rhethorick, and the beginnings of Geography and Chronology, to those who have passed the Grammar School but are willing to be further instructed in Latin befor they begin to read Greek. 1700 P. Danet Compl. Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. sig. Ss4 At fifteen years of age he taught Rhetorick with general applause. 1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xx. 350 Rhetorick in general is the Art of Perswading. 1800 J. Salmon Hist. Descr. Anc. & Mod. Rome II. 92 Tradition says, that St. Augustin taught rhetoric here before he went to Milan. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. Introd. §3 The communication of those thoughts to others falls under the consideration of Rhetoric. 1889 Times 1 Aug. 8/1 The art of rhetoric should be more studied. 1922 W. M. Tanner Composition & Rhetoric i. 2 Rhetoric consists of the study of the principles governing the clear, forceful, and elegant expression of thoughts. 1965 Bull. School Oriental & Afr. Stud. 28 210/1 The elaborate genre of a treatise on rhetoric and dramaturgy designed as a panegyric. 2002 Church Times 15 Nov. 22/4 Rhetoric..was in some respects the Cinderella subject of the trivium in the Middle Ages. b. As a personification. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of meaning > [noun] > personification rhetoric?c1400 prosopopoeia1563 feigning of person1573 personification1728 personifying1728 personization1890 ?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. i. l. 761 Wiþ Rethorice com forþe musice a damoisel of oure house. ?1435 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 638 (MED) Rethoryk hadde eke in hire presence Tulyus, called Mirrour off Eloquence. c1500 (?a1437) Kingis Quair (1939) cxcvii (MED) Gowere and Chaucere..on the steppis satt Of rethorike. 1559 D. Lindsay Test. Papyngo l. 11 in Wks. (1931) I For quhy the bell of Rethorick bene roung Be Chawceir, Goweir, and Lidgate laureate. 1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. vii. 73 Some condemne Rhetorick as the mother of lies. 1662 Duchess of Newcastle Several Wits iv. xxxvii, in Playes Written 114 My lips shall be as flowery banks, whereon sweet Rhethorick grows, and cipherous fancy blows. 1742 A. Pope New Dunciad 24 There stript, fair Rhet'ric languish'd on the ground. 1809 Port Folio July 14 Behold how enamoured of herself is Rhetoric with her ornaments and colours. 1902 Catholic Univ. Bull. Apr. 222 Dionysius is a faithful slave of Dame Rhetoric. 1992 C. Desmet Reading Shakespeare's Characters vi. 135 In the Renaissance, Orator's sketchy personification of Rhetoric, with her curled hair and pink and white complexion, becomes a familiar figure. c. A treatise on the theory and practice of rhetoric; (also) a textbook dealing with the art of rhetoric.Now frequently as the title of the treatise by Aristotle. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > treatise on or body of rhetoricc1450 c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4360 (MED) Ne rede we neuire na retorik ne rial to speke. c1485 ( G. Hay Bk. Law of Armys (2005) 111 Jn a buke yat he maid callit Retorik. 1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Rhetoricus In primo Ciceronis rhetorico.., in the firste booke of Ciceroes rhetorike. 1580 G. Harvey in Three Proper Lett. 32 To bring our Language into Arte, and to frame a Grammer or Rhetorike thereof. 1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha i. xi. 63 It is a good Counsell (which Aristotle giueth in his Rhetorikes ad Theodectem). 1628 in A. Morgan Univ. Edinb. Charters (1937) 111 The regent instructes theme in the Rethorick of Cassander or any uther commoun rethorick. 1654 T. Blount (title) The Academie of Eloquence, Containing a Compleat English Rhetorique. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 297. ¶17 Aristotle himself has given it a place in his Rhetorick among the Beauties of that Art. 1793 V. Knox Personal Nobility xiii. 70 You may wonder, perhaps, that I do not recommend the rhetoric of Aristotle. I leave it to your future studies. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 449/2 Aristotle's Rhetoric is not only the best treatise upon this subject, but a model of profound thinking and reasoning. 1881 A. Trollope Life of Cicero II. xi. 249 It is well known that Cicero's works are divided into four main parts. There are the Rhetoric, the Orations, the Epistles, and the Philosophy. 1978 College Eng. 40 67 Thomas Wilson's Arte or Crafte of Rhetoric (1553) was the first rhetoric in English to be widely used. 1993 C. Richardson tr. G. Manetti Theories of Sign in Classical Antiq. v. 71 In the classification of the types of speech set out in his Rhetoric, Aristotle identified two categories of intended receiver of speech. d. Usually with capital initial. The senior class (or one of the more senior classes) in some Roman Catholic schools, esp. Stonyhurst College and St Edmund's College, Ware. †to make one's rhetoric: to be a member of this class (obsolete).The term is associated principally with Jesuit colleges (such as Stonyhurst) following the order's Ratio studiorum (1599), and remains in international use. ΘΚΠ society > education > learning > learner > one attending school > [noun] > division of pupils > Roman Catholic or Jesuit > specific form rhetoric1599 syntax1628 figures1629 grammar1629 poetry1629 rudiments1716 underlow1837 1599 in H. Foley Rec. Eng. Province Soc. of Jesus (1879) V. 569 I have made my rhetoric in these parts. c1620 in Mem. Stonyhurst Coll. (1881) 8 They go down two by two with their books under their arms, and first those in Rhetoric, into the Refectory. 1791 G. Haydock Let. in J. Gillow Haydock Papers (1888) 91 I have been about half a year in poetry..being only preparation to the schools which follow, viz. rhetoric, philosophy, and divinity. 1879 E. Waterton Pietas Mariana Britannica i. i. iii. 27 (note) Rhetoric, Poetry, and Syntax, and the four lower schools. 1908 Stonyhurst Mag. in Tablet 25 Apr. 646/2 We are informed that any boy from Rhetoric down to Elements may join the class. 1946 D. Gwynn Bishop Challoner iii. 39 By the summer of 1708 he had passed through the two higher classes of Poetry and Rhetoric. c1990 Stonyhurst Coll. Prospectus 3 As he progresses through the College he moves to Grammar, Syntax, Poetry and Rhetoric. e. Literary prose composition, esp. as a school exercise. Now rare (chiefly U.S. in later use). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > [noun] > writing of prose > esp. as exercise rhetoric1783 1783 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric I. xiv. 272 On the subject of Figures of Speech, all the writers who treat of rhetoric or composition, have insisted largely. 1828 R. Whately Elem. Rhetoric 4 Some writers have spoken of Rhetoric as the Art of Composition, universally; or, with the exclusion of Poetry alone, as embracing all Prose-composition. 1944 H. J. C. Grierson Rhetoric & Eng. Composition p. iii Of University teaching in English I had enjoyed just fifty lectures at Aberdeen, of which twenty-five were devoted to Rhetoric or, as Rhetoric had come to mean under Dr. Alexander Bain and his successor William Minto, English Composition. 1953 T. S. Eliot Amer. Lit. & Amer. Lang. 5 I am happy to remember that in those days English composition was still called Rhetoric. 1978 H. S. Wiener Any Child can Write i. 3 There is the world of ideas and the way a writer puts those ideas together. Often called ‘rhetoric’ or ‘composition’, this aspect of writing is the product of the way a mind works in dealing with thoughts. 2. †a. Elegance or eloquence of language. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > elegance > [noun] facunda1340 rhetoricc1405 elegancy?a1475 elegance?1504 facundity1530 grace1530 festivity1542 roundness1557 concinnity1577 style1589 comptness1611 politeness1627 concinneness1655 speakingness1851 style1851 daintiness1878 yugen1921 simplex munditiis1933 c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 32 Fraunceys Petrak..Highte this clerk whos Rethoryk swete Enlumyned al Ytaille of Poetrie. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 4699 (MED) Noble Galfride..made first to reyne Þe gold dewe-dropis of rethorik so fyne. a1456 J. Shirley in E. P. Hammond Eng. Verse Between Chaucer & Surrey (1927) 195 Of eloquencyale retorryke In Englisshe was neuer noon him [sc. Chaucer] lyke. a1500 ( J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 615 (MED) I in my translacioun..Of rethoryk have no maner floure. 1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 187 Thare was Mercurius, wise and eloquent, Of rethorike that fand the flouris faire. b. An elegant expression; a rhetorical flourish; (also) a rhetorical figure. Also in extended use. Chiefly in plural. rare after 17th cent. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > embellishment > an) ornament(s) coloursc1405 rhetoricc1425 gaudc1430 flower1508 flourish1603 embellishment1632 flosculation1651 floscule1669 gayness1670 floresa1734 taga1734 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > rhetoric > rhetorical terms rhetoric1543 distribution1553 anamnesis1656 c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 868 (MED) Þer-in stod an aw[n]cien poete, For to reherse by rethorikes swete Þe noble dedis..Of kynges. a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) 19774 (MED) That poete [sc. Chaucer], Wyth al hys rethorykes swete..was the ffyrste in any age. 1543 J. Bale Yet Course at Romyshe Foxe sig. Dij Neuer coude tolwyn throughlye knowe what these rhetoryckes ment, as are denuncyacyon, deteccyon, and presentacyon. 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. ii. 116 Graue and wise counsellours..do much mislike all scholasticall rhetoricks. 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 42 b Their fantastique Rhetoriques, Who trim their Poesies with schooleboy-tricks. 1676 News from Sessions House 5 The charming Rhetoricks of a Gray head, comely Visage, demure Countenance, and plausible tongue. 1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote III. v. 51 Don't puzzle my Brains with your Harrangues and Retricks. 1889 Frank Leslie's Sunday Mag. Mar. 225/2 Flowers are the figures and rhetorics of vegetation, just as, conversely, figures of speech are the flowers of language. 1942 W. Stevens Parts of World 143 Midsummer love and softest silences, Weather of night creatures, whistling all day, too, And echoing rhetorics more than our own. 1976 Sunday Times (Lagos) 3 Oct. 10/4 We cannot decide on the fundamental values and goals that will bind the present and future generations on the basis of vague ideas, irrelevant foreign slogans and rhetorics. c. Eloquent, elegant, or ornate language, esp. speech or writing expressed in terms calculated to persuade. Frequently depreciative: language characterized by artificial, insincere, or ostentatious expression; inflated or empty verbiage. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > rhetoric rhetory?a1500 rhetoric1559 rope-ripe1584 inkle-eloquence1774 rhetoricianism1842 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [noun] > affectation affectation1548 rhetoric1559 affection1570 manner1706 mannerism1803 posh1915 1559 D. Lindsay Dreme in Wks. (1931) I. 21 The portratour of that p[a]lace..is..By rethorike..inpronunciabyll. 1562 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 25 As I persaue rethorik thairof verray small, swa I can espy na thing thairin abhorring fra the treuth. 1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. Aij^v Nor your faire pretense, by such rashe ragged Rhetorike, any whit, well graced. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado 24 Heere is no substance, but a simple peece Of gaudy Rhetoricke. 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 4 And the perswasive Rhetoric That sleek't his tongue. View more context for this quotation 1733 J. Swift Lett. (1766) II. 189 The one word from you, is of much more weight than my rhetoric. 1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 491 Modern senators..Whose oath is rhet'ric, and who swear for fame! 1825 T. B. Macaulay Milton in Edinb. Rev. Aug. 345 The sublime wisdom of the Areopagitica, and the nervous rhetoric of the Iconoclast. 1845 Amer. Whig. Rev. Feb. 188/1 You add the tenderest poetic sensibility..and sorrowful notions respecting ‘this life’, with the most eloquent rhetoric. 1880 A. C. Swinburne Study of Shakespeare 269 The limp loquacity of long-winded rhetoric, so natural to men and soldiers in an hour of emergency. 1903 Q. Rev. Apr. 441 There is no artificial rhetoric in his phrasing, there are no ornamental words daubed over his page. 1941 W. H. Auden in Southern Rev. 6 729 Around them boomed the rhetoric of time. 1960 Times 21 Oct. 8/1 All his rhetoric and special pleading tonight does not alter that fact. 1984 D. Cupitt Sea of Faith v. 144 The rhetoric is brilliant, but even some of Marx's colleagues disapproved of such fireworks. 1993 Jrnl. Interamerican Stud. & World Affairs 35 107 For all his rhetoric, Castro does not really care that much about the Cuban people. †d. ironic (chiefly humorous). Blunt or crude speech. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [noun] > lowness of style rhetoric1580 lowness1630 broadness1685 breadth1849 1580 G. Harvey in E. Spenser & G. Harvey Three Proper & Wittie Lett. 14 Like a drunken man, or women (when their Alebench Rhetorick commes vpon them). 1595 W. S. Lamentable Trag. Locrine ii. iv. sig. F2^v I think you were broght vp in the vniuersitie of bridewell, you haue your rhetorick so ready at your toongs end. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage iii. xiv. 316 Some of them vpbraiding both him and other Christians with the names of dogs, Ethnickes, vnbeleeuers, and the like zealous Rhetorick. 1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. i. xvii. 127 The Rhetorick of John the Hostler, with a new Straw Hat, and a Pint of Wine, made a second Conquest over her. View more context for this quotation a1763 W. Shenstone Wks. Verse & Prose (1764) I. 308 Fearless he of shouts Or taunts, the rhetoric of the wat'ry crew. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iv. 450 He [sc. Jeffreys] acquired a boundless command of the rhetoric in which the vulgar express hatred and contempt. 3. Skill in or talent for using eloquent and persuasive language. Chiefly with possessive adjective. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [noun] > skill in rhetorica1450 the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > skill in rhetorica1450 fluence1607 fluency1814 a1450 Partonope of Blois (Univ. Coll. Oxf.) (1912) 8870 (MED) These lordes are chosyn be myn assent: The fyrst ys the kyng of Affryke, For his grete wytte and his retoryke [v.r. reteryke]. c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 103 (MED) Euery man that herde him did blisse theimselfe for the grete mervayle that they sawe in his retentyfe witte and also of his fayir rethoryke. 1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. xxix Though he be wyse, and of myght meruaylous Endued with retoryke and with eloquence. 1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Spirituall Husbandry i. in tr. Popish Kingdome 68 On this bestow thy Rhetoricke, and all that thou canst say. 1637 J. Milton Comus 27 Enjoy your deere Wit, and gay Rhetorick That hath so well beene taught her dazling fence. 1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos Pref. p. vii The highest Encomium..that the Wit and Rhetorick of men or Angels can invent. 1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 171. ¶12 Joseph..endeavour'd, with all his Art and Rhetorick, to set out the Excess of Herod's Passion for her. 1753 T. Gray Long Story in Six Poems 21 But soon his rhetorick forsook him. 1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 961/1 I used all my rhetoric on the occasion—but in vain. 1909 J. W. Mackail Springs of Helicon iii. 115 ‘What May-game hath misfortune made of you?’ the Amazon asks Artegall when she finds him in prison, touched by surprise to forget all her rhetoric. 4. In extended use. a. The use of an expressive or persuasive gesture, look, or action; a gesture made, course of action taken, etc., in order to persuade. Also: the persuasiveness or expressiveness of communication of this kind. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > motivation > persuasion > [noun] > persuasiveness motion1533 persuasion1540 rhetoric1569 Suada1592 persuasiveness1611 suasiveness1727 society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun] > in oratory rhetoric1569 action1579 chironomy1670 1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. xxi This daunsinge or Histrionical Rhetorike in the ende beganne to be lefte of all Oratours. 1587 R. Greene Euphues sig. K For he considered with himselfe,..that liberality was the soundest rethoricke. 1597 N. Breton Wits Trenchmour sig. E1 Silence can best talke with woodden Rethoricke. 1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. iii. 57 The heauenly Rethorique of thine eye. View more context for this quotation 1644 J. Bulwer (title) Chirologia..wherevnto is added Chironomia: or, The art of manuall rhetorique. 1647 A. Cowley Rich Rival in Mistress ii Whilst thy sole Rhetorick shall be Joynture, and Jewels, and Our Friends agree. 1669 E. Stillingfleet 6 Serm. iii. 127 Every part of the Tragedy of his [sc. the Son of God's] life, every wound at his death,..were designed by him as the most prevailing Rhetorick, to perswade men to forsake their sins. 1716 J. Gay Trivia iii. 74 Mov'd by the Rhet'rick of a Silver Fee. 1769 E. Griffith Delicate Distress lxxii, in R. Griffith & E. Griffith Two Novels II. 175 As the last, and most prevailing rhetoric, I offered him my purse. 1880 R. M. Jephson Pink Wedding III. iii. 68 He could not withstand the heavenly rhetoric of those upturned eyes. 1993 E. McVarish tr. J. Lichtenstein Eloquence of Color 32 A silence that is infinitely more persuasive than any discourse and that has always found the body's silent rhetoric its best example. b. The structural elements, compositional techniques, and modes of expression used to produce a desired effect on a viewer, audience, etc., in music, dance, and the visual arts. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > artistic treatment or style gusto1662 composition1695 style1706 expression1715 goût1717 handling1719 touching1743 conduct1758 rhetoric1851 treatment1856 1851 J. Ruskin Stones of Venice I. i. 11 His larger sacred subjects are merely themes for the exhibition of pictorial rhetoric,—composition and colour. 1863 Continental Monthly May 564/2 No heavier censure can, however, be passed upon an artist, than that he possesses only the technic or rhetoric of art. 1932 Musical Q. 18 227 His principal aim is to impress us agreeably or to amuse us with ingenious turns of musical rhetoric. 1964 J. Summerson Classical Lang. Archit. iv. 33 Well, there are three buildings which, I believe, demonstrate..the ‘rhetoric’ of the Baroque. 1997 K. Toepfer Empire of Ecstasy 182 A collection of postcard photos depicting Anna Pavlova inspired her more than the bankrupt rhetoric of ballet did. c. The language or discourse characteristically associated with a particular subject, concept, or set of ideas. ΚΠ 1882 J. R. Seeley Nat. Relig. ii. ii. 138 We still recognize the feelings, we still hear the peculiar rhetoric, of religion. 1910 V. W. Brooks Soul 27 Rome gave the world rhetoric, both in literature and in life: in literature the rhetoric of Oratory and of Prosody, and in life the rhetoric of Conquest, of Patriotism, of Empire, and of Commerce. 1961 W. C. Booth (title) The rhetoric of fiction. 1976 Howard Jrnl. 15 i. 52 The rhetoric of treatment will have to be replaced by the reality of treatment. 1989 R. W. Dasenbrock in W. Lewis Art of Being Ruled 439 Lewis's primary object of attack is..the way a false rhetoric of individualism increasingly masks a ‘group think’ that is the very opposite of individualism. 2000 World Archael. 31 476 This verbal and material rhetoric of labour and dress began to impose distinct adult male and female statuses on the newborn. Compounds C1. General attributive, esp. with reference to the teaching of the art of rhetoric. ΚΠ 1581 P. Wiburn Checke or Reproofe M. Howlets Shreeching f. 112 I wot not well howe it will agree with the Rhetorike Schooles about you. 1629 H. Burton Truth's Triumph xvi. 301 Alipius being present at one of my Rhetoricke Lectures in Carthage, I tooke occasion, being offered, to delight my Auditory with a Simile taken from the Circensian games. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. lxxxviii. 375 To declame..publikely in the Rhetorick school. 1698 E. Bellamy tr. J. Huarte Tryal Wits xii. 222 He read out of a Paper his Rhetoric-Lectures to his Scholars. 1762 New & Gen. Biogr. Dict. VII. 42 [He] was soon after chosen rhetoric lecturer in his college. 1806 H. K. White Let. 30 July in Remains (1807) I. 235 The Rhetoric Lecturer sent me one of my Latin Essays to copy, for the purpose of inspection. 1868 J. G. Whittier in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 223 I ask no organ's soulless breath To drone the themes of life and death, No altar candle-lit by day, No ornate wordsman's rhetoric-play. 1917 F. Aydelotte Oxf. Stamp ix. 187 He would deal with no ideas in the rhetoric class except those proceeding from the rhetoric teacher and the text-book. 1989 Toronto Star (Nexis) 9 Sept. m15 Miller is a rhetoric lecturer at the University of California. C2. With past participles in adjectives with sense ‘characterized by being rhetorical, esp. excessively or unhelpfully so’. ΚΠ 1884 Punch 23 Feb. 87 To unmask His rhetoric-shrouded weakness. 1978 Jrnl. Afr. Hist. 19 136 Its approach contrasts strikingly with that of the rhetoric-drenched writings of the Coupland–Williams era. 1994 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 3 Feb. 30/1 The film makes its point by showing how timebound and rhetoric-laden our expectations about sex are. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † rhetoricn.² Forms: Middle English rethorik, Middle English rethorique, Middle English rethoryk, Middle English retorik. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French retorike, rhetorique; Latin rhētoricus. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman retorike and Middle French rhetorique, rethorique (14th cent.) and its etymon classical Latin rhētoricus (in post-classical Latin also rethoricus (10th cent.)) teacher of oratory, use as noun of masculine of rhētoricus rhetoric adj. Compare Catalan retòric (13th cent.), Spanish retórico (c1180), Italian retorico (a1294). Compare rhetoric n.¹, rhetoric adj., and also rhetor n., rhetorian n., rhetorician n. Obsolete. = rhetorician n. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > one who uses rhetorical language rhetorica1382 declamatora1387 rhetorc1390 rhetoriana1393 declaimer?a1475 rhetorician1561 rhetoricaster1591 rhetorculist1607 declaimanta1763 a1382 Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) vi. 4 I holde my pees of gramaryens & rethorykez [L. rhetoribus], philosophers, geometrers, [etc.]. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 215 (MED) So seiþ Prosper the rethorik [L. rhetor] in his vers. a1425 (?c1375) N. Homily Legendary (Harl.) in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 166 (MED) Þai suld wend hastily To al þe maister[s] of clergy, Both retorikes and gramarione. a1450 R. Spaldyng Katereyn in Anglia (1907) 30 540 (MED) Fyfti fyue retorikes in hast þei hem hent, of clargy in kyngdames þe hyest were hythe. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online December 2020). rhetoricadj. Brit. /rᵻˈtɒrᵻk/, /ˈrɛtərɪk/, U.S. /rəˈtɔrək/, /ˈrɛdərɪk/ Forms: late Middle English rethorick, late Middle English rethorik, late Middle English rethorike, late Middle English rethoryque, late Middle English–1500s rethoryke, 1500s retorycke, 1500s rethoricke, 1500s rethorik, 1500s rethorycke, 1600s rhetorick, 1600s– rhetoric. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French rethorique; Latin rhētoricus. Etymology: < French rethorique, retorique (15th cent.; late 14th cent. in sense ‘subtle, obscure’; French rhétorique ) and its etymon classical Latin rhētoricus (in post-classical Latin also rethoricus (10th cent.)) of or relating to correct public speaking, rhetorical, of or belonging to a teacher of rhetoric < ancient Greek ῥητορικός oratorical, skilled in speaking, in Hellenistic Greek also belonging to a teacher of rhetoric < ῥήτωρ rhetor n. + -ικός -ic suffix. Compare Spanish retórico (c1280), Italian retorico (1294). Compare rhetorical adj., rhetorian adj. Characteristic or done in accordance with the principles of rhetoric; rhetorical; (in early use) spec. †eloquent (obsolete). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > vigour or force > [adjective] sensiblea1393 eloquent1393 rhetoricc1450 mightya1500 pithy1529 grave1541 pithful1548 weighty1560 sappy1563 emphatical1567 fasta1568 thwacking1567 forceful1571 enforceable1589 energetical1596 eloquious1599 sinewy1600 emphatic1602 sinewed1604 strong1604 tonitruous1606 nervose1645 nervous1663 energetic1674 energic1683 strong1685 cogent1718 lapidary1724 forcible1726 authoritative1749 terse1777 telling1819 vigorous1821 sturdy1822 tonitruant1861 meaty1874 vertebrate1882 energized1887 jawy1898 heavy1970 society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [adjective] > rhetorical rhetorical1447 rhetoricc1450 rope-ripec1530 c1450 Speculum Christiani (Harl. 6580) (1933) 230 Pompe of rethorike wordes [1425 Lansd. rethoricorum pompa verborum] is vanite of worldly wysdam. 1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope vii. f. cxxvij^v This fable of a rethoryque man or fayr speker. 1509 H. Watson in tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) Prol. Translatour sig. A.i It was translated..oute of latyn in to rethoryke Frensshe. 1542 A. Borde Compend. Regyment Helth Pref. sig. A.ij^v With eloquent speche and rethorycke termes. 1577 J. Grange Golden Aphroditis sig. G.ij Hir tongue it rolles in Rethoricke termes to giue eche man delighte. 1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. iii. 5 It is a very elegant, sweet and facete kind of speech, acute with gravity, accommodated with Rhetorick words, and pleasant speeches. 1678 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. IV iv. iii. vi. 189 With many rhetoric flourishes and pompose triumphs. 1729 E. Bockett Geneva 22 Nor need I, with rhetoric flourishes, Attempt the passions of my Judge to move. 1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. ii. 81 (note) The crude matter, too little..ornate by the care of any trained intellect, or by dialectic and rhetoric enigmas. a1894 W. Pater Gaston de Latour (1896) vii. 194 Helping himself indifferently to all religions for rhetoric illustration. 1948 Mnemosyne 1 300 Pathos and rhetoric flourishes are not used by him. 2009 Zimbabwe Independent (Nexis) 6 Mar. The young man eloquently recited a ‘medley’ of Mugabe's rhetoric flourishes. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹c1330n.²a1382adj.c1450
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rhetoricn.1

Compounds

† rhetoricn.2

rhetoricadj.

rhetoricn.¹

† rhetoricn.²