▪ I. lithic, a.1 and n.
(ˈlɪθɪk)
[ad. Gr. λιθικός, f. λίθος stone.]
A. adj.
1. Chem. and Path. Of or pertaining to ‘stone’ or calculi in the bladder. † lithic acid: an obsolete name for uric acid.
| 1797 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. LXXXVII. 386 A peculiar concrete acid, which, since his [Scheele's] time has received the name of lithic. Ibid. 393 The appearance of the lithic strata..shews that they are..an accidental deposit. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 350 Small quantities of uncombined lithic, or, as it is now called, uric acid. 1821 W. Prout Gravel, Calculus, etc. 223 A small or moderately sized lithic calculus in the bladder. 1845 Budd Dis. Liver 37 The efficacy of alkalies in preventing the deposit of lithic gravel in the urine. 1851 Carpenter Man. Phys. (ed. 2) 445 Urinary deposits, which consist of the normal elements of the Urine,—namely, Lithic Acid, and the Phosphates. 1876 Gross Dis. Bladder 180 The uric, or lithic, acid calculus. |
2. gen. Of or pertaining to stone; consisting of stone. lithic age, the ‘stone age’ of Archæology.
| 1862 Lowell Biglow P. 93 This remarkable example of lithick literature. [Quasi-archaic.] 1865–7 J. Fergusson Hist. Archit. (1874) I. 35 The best lithic ornaments are those which approach nearest to the grace and pliancy of plants. 1874 Contemp. Rev. XXIV. 762 The architecture..of St. Paul's is lithic, and suitable to no other material than stone. 1883 N. Joly Man bef. Metals i. i. §3. 23 Even in our day groups of men exist who are still in their lithic age. 1946 F. E. Zeuner Dating Past vii. 208 The lithic industries of the Grotte de l'Observatoire were described by Boule. 1971 Nature 6 Aug. 383/2 Although other human remains that may be attributed provisionally to Homo erectus have been found at Olduvai,..the discoveries at [site] WK are the first occasion on which a well represented lithic industry has been directly associated. 1971 World Archaeol. III. 144 There is a need for studies of lithic technology. |
B. n. A medicine given for stone in the bladder (Funk's Stand. Dict. 1893).
▪ II. lithic, a.2 Chem.
(ˈlɪθɪk)
[f. lith-ium + -ic.]
Pertaining to lithium. lithic paint (see quot.).
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Lithic Paint, a mastic of petalite (which contains an alkali known as lithia), sand, and litharge, used as a coating for walls. 1878 Lockyer Spectrum Analysis vi. (ed. 2) 160 Lithic Iodide gave the red line of this metal extending all across the spectrum. |