hypercritic, n. and a.
(haɪpəˈkrɪtɪk)
[ad. 16th c. L. hypercritic-us (see hyper- 4 + critic), applied vituperatively to the younger Scaliger by the Italian R. Titius in 1589, and by Delrio in 1609. Cf. F. hypercritique (Boileau, 1703).]
A. n.
1. † A master critic (obs.); an extreme or severe critic; a hypercritical or over-critical person.
| 1633 T. Carew Cœl. Brit. Wks. (1824) 154 My offices and title are, supreme theomastix, hupercrittique of manners, protonotarie of abuses. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. vii. 2 Scaliger the hypercritic gives this absurd and unmannerly censure. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Hypercritick,..a Master Critick. 1674 Dryden State Innoc. Apol., These hyper⁓critics of English poetry. a 1764 Lloyd Ep. to J.B. Esq., Yet Hypercritics I disdain, A race of blockheads dull and vain. 1822 C. Butler Remin. (ed. 3) 329 An Italian hyper⁓critic would deny it to be music. |
† 2. Hypercriticism; also a minute criticism, a critique. Obs.
| 1618 Bolton Florus To Rdr., In mine Hypercriticks, concerning our countreys history, I have dealt freely. 1695 Bentley Let. to Evelyn 29 Jan. in Corr. (1842) 93 My Alterations..which I have done with so much freedom and simplicity; such seeming fastidiousness and Hypercritic..that I should fear to send them, but that [etc.]. 1757 E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) I. 257 My observations are mostly an hypercritick upon Lord Orrery. |
B. adj. = next.
| 1820 Keats Cap & Bells xi, A long hypercritic howl Against the vicious manners of the age. |