septic, a. and n.
(ˈsɛptɪk)
Also 7 erron. sceptick.
[ad. late L. sēptic-us, a. Gr. σηπτικός, f. σήπειν to putrefy.]
A. adj.
1. a. Putrefactive, putrefying; in mod. use, of disease, caused by the absorption of the products of putrefaction.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 160 Either septic putrifying, or caustic burning. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. vi. 211 Vitriol, according to Galen..is of a corroding and sceptick quality. 1705 Greenhill Embalming 272 After the nature of Septic and Escharotic Medicines, it corrodes and consumes the Flesh in a very short Time. 1752 Pringle Obs. Dis. Army iii. vii. (1765) 337 The miasma or septic ferment..being received into the blood. Ibid. App. p. xxxviii, It would seem that salt is subservient to digestion chiefly by its septic virtue, that is, by softening and resolving meats. 1806 Med. & Phys. Jrnl. XV. 79 If this matter is the sceptic [sic] principle, the foundation of all these chronic diseases. 1873 F. T. Roberts Handbk. Med. 92 The symptoms are of such a low type..that they may be truly termed malignant. The terms ‘putrid’ or ‘septic’ are sometimes applied to fever under these circumstances. 1879 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (ed. 6) II. xiii. 334 The preventing of the wound from becoming a nidus for the propagation of septic bacteria. 1881 Times 25 Mar. 5 Illness has palpably been produced by the use, by paper-hangers, of size and paste undergoing or speedily entering on septic change. |
† b. septic acid: nitric or nitrous acid. (Cf. septon and septous.) Obs.
| 1798 Monthly Mag. VI. 26 [Abstract of paper by Dr. S. L. Mitchill.] The azote, by the absorption of oxygen, is converted into nitrous oxide gas (septic acid), which is supposed to be the..cause of infectious fever. 1800 S. L. Mitchill in Med. & Phys. Jrnl. IV. 25 It is..ordinarily impossible to procure one drop of pure and naked septic acid, by any decomposition of nitre. |
2. septic tank, a tank (associated either with a sewage works or with a residence that is not connected to a main sewer) in which the solid portions of sewage are allowed to settle and accumulate and are purified by the action of anaerobic bacteria.
| 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXIX. 379/1 The ‘septic tank-system’ was devised by Cameron of Exeter in 1896. Ibid. XXXII. 526/1 At the present time the common cesspool is being resuscitated and improved under the name of a septic tank. 1909 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 87/1 The sewage system is of the latest character, with a septic tank. 1939 Archit. Rev. LXXXVI. 11/2 Bathrooms are installed on both ground and first floors, while other equipment includes an electric generating plant, a deep well with electric pump and septic tank. 1951 Good Housek. Encycl. 315/1 An adequate supply of good water at a safe distance from the septic tank. 1976 Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 13 Dec. 7/2 His septic tank did not work, and nor did most others in the village. |
3. In trivial use: unpleasant, nasty, ‘rotten’. slang.
| 1914 ‘I. Hay’ Knight on Wheels xviii. 172 Philip enquired after Mr. Brett, and learned that that ‘septic blighter’ (Timothy's description) had retired from the position of Housemaster. 1932 S. Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm xviii. 248 Rennett had had a pretty septic life. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar 248 What septic weather to-day! 1974 G. Mitchell Winking at Brim vii. 62 Mummy and Daddy have had a row. Isn't it septic of them? |
B. n.
† 1. A septic or putrefactive substance. Obs.
| 1608 Topsell Serpents 218 The venome of the Salamander is reckoned among Septicks, or corroding things. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. iii. 62 Septicks..may not be applied to any Ulcer. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. 14 Acid of salt..constitutes..with regulus of antimony, a powerful septic. 1771 Watson in Phil. Trans. LXI. 219 The proportion in which it acts as a septic. |
2. ellipt. A septic tank. Austral. colloq.
| 1961 P. White Riders in Chariot iii. viii. 231 Rosetrees lived..in a texture-brick home—city water, no sewerage, but their own septic. 1977 Weekly Times (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 65/2 (Advt.), Lovely new home.., 2 bathrooms, 2 septics and large living area. |
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▸ Short for septic tank n. Austral. slang (derogatory). An American.
| 1976 Cleo Aug. 33 Even before R and R, Americans were septics. 1981 D. Stuart I think I'll Live 31 If it isn't the Goddams, the Septics themselves!..Stick around long enough, I told myself, and..you'll see some real live Yanks. 2006 Townsville Bull. (Queensland) (Nexis) 1 Sept. 306 There was a time when that [sc. ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’] was the first thing septics..would shout at you in an appalling Aussie accent after learning you were from Australia. |
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▸ septic tank n.rhyming slang for Yank n.2 slang (Austral. and N.Z.) (derogatory). an American.
| 1967 Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxix. 4/4 Septic tank, yank. 1971 J. O'Grady Aussie Etiket 7 Septic Tanks don't get VCs. They get purple hearts. 1988 A. Macrae Awful Childhoods 88, I take it the blondie mate's a septic tank? What a strong accent! 2006 West Austral. (Perth) (Nexis) 18 Oct. 52, I guess people also wonder..whether I'm one of those ‘septic tanks’ who will parachute in, generate a bit of mayhem and then exit on the next plane with a sack-full of money. |