exotic, a. and n.
(ɛgˈzɒtɪk)
[ad. L. exōtic-us, a. Gr. ἐξωτικός, f. ἔξω outside. Cf. Fr. exotique.]
A. adj.
1. † a. Belonging to another country, foreign, alien (obs.). b. In narrowed sense: Introduced from abroad, not indigenous. Now chiefly of plants (in popular language with added sense of ‘not naturalized or acclimatized’); also, of words, forms of speech or writing, fashions, etc.
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iv. iii, Magick, Witchcraft, or other such exotick arts. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. vi. §3. 98 As Exotick observers deliver, it groweth upon Almond trees. 1650 Fuller Pisgah i. xii. 38 It was an exotick and forain territory. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 34 [The] Mulbery is..an exotique plant. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect., Wales (1685) 27 [Welsh] hath the least mixture of Exotick words of any now used in Europe. 1756 Foote Engl. ret. fr. Paris Wks. 1799 I. 123 I'll have these exotic attendants..sent post to the place from whence they came. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Hughes, The Italian Opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment. 1793 Murphy Tacitus (1805) I. 235 And invited to reign over them an exotic king. 1839 De Quincey Recoll. Lakes Wks. 1862 II. 78 Rome had cast much of her literature in her own moulds before these exotic models had begun to domineer. 1845 Florist's Jrnl. 23 The exotic class of the order. |
† c. Drawn from outside; extrinsic. Also, Foreign in character, alien to. Obs.
| 1671 R. Bohun Disc. conc. Wind 56 They run streaming between two Mountains..and are guarded on all sides from the inroads of other Exotique Winds and Air. a 1718 Penn Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 473 These and the like Practices, strange and exotick to the Primitive and Christian Faith and Worship. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. iii. (1840) 79 An absolute necessity of some exotic helps. |
2. a. Of or pertaining to, or characteristic of a foreigner, or what is foreign (now rare); hence b. Outlandish, barbarous, strange, uncouth. Also, having the attraction of the strange or foreign, glamorous.
| a. a 1659 Bp. Morton Episc. Justified (1670) 51 Mr. Selden, the Ornament of our Nation for Exotick Learning. 1720 Swift Mod. Educ. Wks. 1755 II. ii. 34 An exotick habit and demeanor, added to other foreign accomplishments. 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. vi. 167 When shall the European families drive the exotic tyranny for ever from their shores! 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. viii. 230 The exotic extraction of one of the Original Tribes. |
| b. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 295 Entring the City..in that exoticke and barbarous garbe. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 149 The boarish and exoticke speech of Diogenes. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 224 Lest your entreated patience turne into exoticke passion. 1720 Welton Suffer. Son of God I. x. 252 A Man, who would make this the Rule of his Conduct, Passes for an Extraordinary, Singular..and Exotick spirit. 1739 Cibber Apol. xi. 312 In his dealing with so exotick a Partner. 1815 Scott Guy M. xxix, I have not the poor satisfaction of interesting a human being—not even the exotic monster of a parson. 1919 F. Hurst Humoresque 85 She was about as exotic as a flowering weed which can spring so strongly and so fibrously from slack. 1933 F. Baldwin Innocent Bystander (1935) ix. 172 She hadn't bothered to be exotic and provocative with him. 1933 Punch 15 Nov. 546, I want a perfume thuitable to an ecthotic blonde with innothent green eythe and a lithp. 1958 Listener 7 Aug. 202/3 An enormous hangar fitted with exotic devices. |
c. spec. Of or pertaining to strip-tease or a strip-teaser. orig. U.S.
| 1954 Newsweek 8 Nov. 96/2 One mushrooming by-product of burlesque,..is what the 1954 billboards call the exotic dancer. Ibid. 97/1 Night-club owners who want to bolster attendance hire an exotic dancer. 1955 Evening Sun (Baltimore) 19 July 1 The League of Exotic Dancers..a group within the American Guild of Variety Artists, through which all the girl entertainers are booked. 1965 R. Hardwick Plotters (1966) xiii. 114 ‘Exotic dancer—’ ‘A euphemism for stripper.’ 1967 E. Ambler Dirty Story i. ii. 20 My wife..is an exotic dancer. |
d. Designating any of various high-energy fuels, esp. non-hydrocarbon ones, developed orig. for rocket engines; also applied to certain metals not previously used to a significant extent in technology. orig. U.S.
| 1957 in Amer. Speech (1960) XXXV. 285 Fuels that combine hydrogen with boron or lithium are considered to be exotic fuels. 1958 [see beef v. 2 b]. 1958 C. C. Adams et al. Space Flight iii. 83 During recent months the terms ‘exotic propellants’, ‘Zip-fuels’, and ‘Hi-Cals’ have come into the pages of the trade and technical literature of rocketry. These generally embrace efforts outside strictly conventional lines to develop high-energy power sources but do, on occasion, include merely high-energy types of liquids and solids. 1961 Technology Nov. 282 Alloys of columbium (niobium), one of the new ‘exotic’ metals noted for its strength and corrosion resistance. 1963 Machinery 20 Mar. 631/2 Quite recently it has become increasingly fashionable to describe certain metals as exotic. 1970 M. Smith Aviation Fuels lv. 414 In the early stages of the development programme on these exotic fuels they were prohibitively expensive. |
B. n.
1. a. A plant, formerly also an animal, of foreign extraction; in popular language, a foreign plant not acclimatized or naturalized.
| c 1645 C. Morton An Enquiry 2 The crane is an exotick. 1672 Grew Anat. Plants, Idea Philos. Hist. §8 All Exoticks..may probably be reduced to some such Domesticks. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 294 In the bishop of London's garden at Fulham are many exotics of very ancient date. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xix. (1815) 387 What has been said of Geraniums, applies to all..Exotics. 1812 Rees's Cycl. s.v., The generality of exotics..do not thrive in England without some peculiar care and culture. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. Introd. 4 Potatoes were first..cultivated as a rare exotic. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1795 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XVII. 410 The Welsh is wholly self-derived, and free from exotics. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. i. iii. (1865) 19 Roast veal, or..griskin (exotics unknown to our palates). 1849 H. Rogers Ess. II. vi. 303 Other systems of religion are usually delicate exotics, and will not bear transplanting. 1858 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. viii. 543 In a country like Spain, a great bank was an exotic which might live with art but could never thrive by nature. |
c. An exotic dancer (see sense A. 2 c, above), a stripper. orig. U.S.
| 1954 Daily Oklahoman 24 Jan. 29 (heading) New exotics at the Derby [Club]. 1965 L. H. Whitten Progeny of Adder (1966) 30 A still-famous tenor shared billing with the immense breasts of an ‘exotic’ named Telly Stahr. |
2. A person of foreign origin; a foreigner. rare.
| 1651 Fuller's Abel Rediv. 516 Proclamations were every where set up against exotics. 1763 Wilkes Corr. (1805) I. 80 One other exotic, too, I must not forget: Arthur Murphy, gent. 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. lviii. 230 An exotic, with a pale face, and from across the ocean. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. vi. 159 These same exotics are received by our easy, gullible brethren with ‘outstretched arms’. |
Hence † eˈxoticness, exotic or foreign quality.
| 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 697 The very exoticknesse of the workemanship. |