haptic, a. (and n.)
(ˈhæptɪk)
[ad. Gr. ἁπτικ-ός able to come into contact with, f. ἅπτειν to fasten.]
a. Of, pertaining to, or relating to the sense of touch or tactile sensations. b. Having a greater dependence on sensations of touch than on sight, esp. as a means of psychological orientation. Also absol., a haptic person.
| 1890 in Billings Med. Dict. 1904 Amer. Jrnl. Relig. Psychol. May 33 The scourging, thorns, spear and other tactile or haptic sensations come next. 1939 Mind XLVIII. 360 There is the notion of pure ‘touch’, and there are ‘kinæsthetic experiences’, and we can have the one without the other; but when we speak of ‘the world of touch’, or ‘tactile æsthetics’, we are referring to the data provided by an intimate combination of them both and for this sense Prof. Révész uses the adjective ‘haptic’. Ibid. 364 How does Prof. Révész find out whether the blind have tactile æsthetic experiences? Does he treat haptics seriously in their own right? 1954 Archit. Rev. CXVI. 400/3 Some of his ugly, tumescent pots are brutally haptic, and if it were not for the paintings on them, might be the work of primitive men, moulding bulbous petitions for fruitful wives. 1964 Listener 30 July 156/2 Sight becomes such a preponderant source of information as the child grows, that even those who are basically haptic types come to have a secondary dependence on visual imagery. 1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 41 A complete record of the segmental, paralinguistic, kinesic, and haptic systems, none of which is within the grasp of the linguist today. 1971 Which? Oct. 304/1 Scleral (sometimes called haptic) lenses, about the size of a 5p piece, cover the whole front of the eye. |
So ˈhaptical a., ˈhaptically adv.; ˈhaptics Psychol. and Linguistics [ad. G. haptik (M. Dessoir 1892, in Arch. f. Physiol. 242)], the study of touch and tactile sensations, esp. as a means of communication.
| 1895 E. B. Titchener in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. VIII. 82 (heading) A psychological vocabulary..haptik, haptics. 1899 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XI. 25 Haptical images, beside being vague and ill-defined, offer peculiar difficulties. 1904 G. S. Hall Adolescence II. ix. 5 Haptics is thus a paleopsychic field par excellence, and the exploration of this most extended of all senses involves a study of the entire dermal area. 1964 Listener 30 July 156/2 Those who are..essentially haptically minded—in other words, who primarily orientate themselves by means of touch, and their own bodily feelings and muscular sensations. 1966 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. 1964 xlii. 48 Haptics is that sub-system of nonlanguage communication which conveys meaning through physical contact. 1972 W. M. Austin in A. L. Davis Culture, Class, & Lang. Variety viii. 147 The highly social animals..greet each other haptically by briefly holding each other's muzzles in their mouths. |