▪ I. † ˈtetric, a.1 Obs.
Also 6 tetrik, 7 tetrick(e.
[ad. L. tætric-us, tētric-us forbidding, harsh, gloomy, f. tæter foul: see -ic.]
= tetrical.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy i. viii. (S.T.S.) I. 45 In þe tetrik and soroufull science vsit amang þe sabynis. 1620 Venner Via Recta iii. 23 It [wine]..correcteth the tetrick qualities which that age is subiect vnto. 1682 Sir T. Browne Wks. (1835) IV. 276 Her youthful days are over, and her face hath become wrinkled and tetrick. 1811 H. Martyn Diary in Mem. (1825) iii. 378 Amongst the others who came and sat with us, was my tetric adversary, Agra Acher. |
So † teˈtricity [L. tætricitās], † ˈtetritude [L. tætritūdo], the quality of being ‘tetric’, harshness, sourness; † ˈtetricous a. = tetric a.1
| 1623 Cockeram, Tetricitie, the sourenesse of the countenance. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Tetricity, sournesse or sadnesse of countenance. Tetritude, idem. 1727 Bailey Vol. II, Tetricous, sour in Countenance, crabbed, morose. |
▪ II. ˈtetric, a.2 Chem.
[f. Gr. τετρα- tetra- 2 + -ic.]
In tetric acid, a substance described by Demar{cced}ay in 1877, now believed to be C10H12O6, or C5H6O3. It is a colourless body crystallizing in triclinic prisms. Its salts are tetrates.
| 1881 Watts Dict. Chem. VIII. 1918 Tetric acid and its homologues,..are formed by the successive action of bromine and alcoholic potash on the ethylic ethers of aceto-acetic acid and its homologues. |