cryptic, a. (n.)
(ˈkrɪptɪk)
Also 7 -ique, 7–8 -ick, 7–8 criptic(k.
[ad. L. cryptic-us, a. Gr. κρυπτικός fit for concealing, f. κρυπτός hidden; in sense 2, f. crypt + -ic.]
A. adj.
1. a. Hidden, secret, occult, mystical.
cryptic syllogism, a syllogism of which the premises are not fully or explicitly stated.
| a 1638 Mede Wks. i. (1672) 187 Not in cryptick or mystical terms, or in..a language which they understand not. 1663 J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 130 Her [Nature's] silent processes and more cryptick methods. a 1734 North Examen i. iii. ¶103. 193 This cryptic Plot. 1882 A. B. Bruce Parab. Teaching Christ i. iv. (1891) 109 His doctrine was open and not cryptic. |
b. Mysterious, enigmatic.
| 1920 A. Christie Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921) iv. 60 ‘That difficulty will not exist long,’ pronounced Poirot quietly. John looked puzzled, not quite understanding the portent of this cryptic saying. 1936 C. S. Lewis Allegory of Love i. 25 How irresistible is that cryptic knight who comes and goes we know not whence or whither, and lures the reader to follow as certainly as he lured the Queen and Kay. 1936 A. Christie Cards on Table xix. 188 He might have amused himself by making some cryptic remark to the doctor and noted the startled awareness in his eye. 1940 N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) xv. 225 ‘What did his lordship say?’ ‘His lordship is cryptic. He doesn't say much.’ 1965 Gowers Fowler's Mod. Eng. Usage 115/1 Cryptic might usefully be reserved for what is purposely equivocal.., and not treated as a stylish synonym for mysterious, obscure, hidden, and other such words. |
2. Of the nature of a crypt or vault. rare.
| 1878 Masque Poets 26 The uncrumbled cryptic place Of still sarcophagi. 1882 Society 4 Nov. 21/2 One of those coved cryptic rooms found so generally in South Germany. |
3. Zool. Of markings, coloration, etc.: serving for concealment; protective.
| 1890 [see anticryptic a.]. 1933 Discovery Sept. 276/2 Bright animal colour..is frequently cryptic. Ibid. 277/1 The pattern of tigers, in fact of all cats, and also of zebras, is really cryptic. 1964 V. B. Wigglesworth Life of Insects x. 149 By far the most frequent method of concealment among insects living or resting in exposed situations is camouflage, or ‘cryptic coloration’. |
† B. n. A secret or occult method (of communicating knowledge). Obs.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xvii. 64 There be also other Diuersities of Methodes..as that..of Concealement, or Cryptique, etc., which I do allowe well of. |