loˈgistical, a.
[f. med.L. logisticus (see logistic a.) + -al1.]
1. Pertaining to or based upon reasoning or disputation. (Cf. logistic 1.)
| 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 3 The Logisticall motions that appear in the Hands of Disputants. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 214 That Logistical or rational facultie of the soul. 1833 New Monthly Mag. XXXVIII. 13 A question that depended upon no abstruse or logistical reasoning. |
2. Pertaining to calculation. = logistic 2.
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid xi. xxxiv. 349 Ye may vse the logistical secret of approching nere to the precise verytye. 1640 Wilkins New Planet x. (1707) 272 The Sacred Story..does so exactly agree with the Conversions of Heaven, and Logistical Astronomy. |
3. a. Math. = logistic a. 3 a–c.
| 1653 Shakerley (title) Tabulæ Britannicæ: The British Tables: Wherein is contained Logistical Arithmetick, the Doctrine of the Sphere, Astronomicall Chronologie [etc.]. Ibid. 1 Chap. i. Of Logisticall Multiplication and Division. Ibid. 2 A new Table of Logistical Logarithmes. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Logistical Arithmetick, was formerly the Arithmetick of Sexagesimal Fractions... It is now taken by some for the expeditious Arithmetick of Logarithms, by which all the Trouble of Multiplication and Division is sav'd. 1709–29 Mandey Syst. Math., Arith. 74 Astronomical [Arithmetic], which sometimes also is called Logistical. Ibid. 78 Of Logistical Addition [i.e. addition of degrees, minutes, seconds, etc.; of years, days, hours, etc.]. 1777 Shuckburgh in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 586 note, This table bears some analogy to the tables of logistical logarithms. |
b. = logistic a. 3 d; of or pertaining to logicism.
| 1932 H. W. B. Joseph in Mind XLI. 439 And it would be consonant so far with the logistical doctrine that pure mathematics is just logic, or an outgrowth of logic. 1943 Mind LII. 264 The ‘logistical thesis’ that mathematics is reducible to logic. 1966 W. V. Quine Ways of Paradox viii. 64 (heading) A logistical approach to the ontological problem. |
4. Pertaining to logistics n. pl.2; = logistic a. 4.
| 1934 in Webster. 1957 Economist 7 Sept. 838/3 Soldiers who can, without any lessening of their primal martial qualities, handle their logistical and procurement problems. 1966 Listener 13 Jan. 65/2 You would..allow more time than six months for the 190,000 American troops to effectively dismember the 165,000 Viet Cong troops, an enemy which possesses all the strategical and logistical advantages. 1972 Sci. Amer. Feb. 77/3 Logistical problems such as transporting magnetic tapes and fragile equipment..proved to be as much of a challenge as technical considerations. 1975 Listener 9 Jan. 41/1 Sven Hedin in 1927..could show his journeys through East Asia, China and Mongolia with all the emphasis on the logistical dramas. |
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▸ logistical nightmare n. orig. Mil. a situation which presents many difficulties in terms of logistics; something extremely difficult to organize or plan.
| 1944Ld. Mountbatten in Times 26 Aug. 3/1 We..are fighting from the most difficult lines of communication in the world. Assam is a *logistical nightmare. 1978 Internat. Security 2 63 The infrastructural inadequacies that have created a logistical nightmare for military planners. 2003 Daily Tel. 15 Oct. 13/6 The result is a logistical nightmare that could see a two-tier Europe, with some countries facing trade tariffs within the EEA and others not. |