graphical, a.
(ˈgræfɪkəl)
[f. graphic a. + -al1.]
† 1. Clearly traced. (Cf. graphic a. 1.) Obs.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §503 For as they grow, so the Letters [scratched on trees or fruit] will grow more large, and Graphicall. |
2. = graphic 2. † Also, skilled in drawing.
| 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey 1 The Survey of Possessions is the Arte by which their Graphicall Description is particularized. 1669 Flamsteed in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 84 Some person indued with a celestial wit and a graphical hand not unemulous of it. 1788 V. Knox Winter Even. II. v. ii. 195 All graphical representations of God the Father are to be disapproved. 1810 Syd. Smith Female Educ. Wks. (1850) 177 The highest exertions of musical or graphical skill. 1828 W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) II. 347 He..is eager for all kinds of graphical illustrations, fac-similes, &c. |
3. = graphic 3. Now rare.
| 1644 Bulwer Chiron. Prælud., The whole Nation of the Greekes were Comœdians; for..in graphicall assimilating and imitating the affections, there were few of any Nation could match them. 1650 Trapp Comm. Exod. x. 14 See a graphical description of a like plague threatened. Joel ii. 4–11. 1658 J. Robinson Eudoxa 84 Every Line being a Graphical Pourtraict of Christ. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World II. 9 Every part answered the graphical description which the Spaniards have given. 1825 Carlyle Schiller iii. (ed. 2) 162 ‘Wallenstein's Camp’..paints with much humour and graphical felicity the manners of that rude tumultuous host. 1830 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iv. (1863) 193 One of the finest sketches which Mr. Crabbe's graphical pen ever produced. |
| absol. 1845 Blackw. Mag. LVIII. 387 Such a sentiment..asks not the happinesses of humour, wit, fancy, of the graphical and the characteristic. |
4. Of or pertaining to writing; consisting of letters. (Cf. graphic 4.) † graphical stone, graphic granite (see graphic 4 b).
| 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §2 The Finger of God hath left an Inscription upon all his works, not graphical, or composed of Letters, but [etc.]. 1802 Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Theory 322 The graphical stone of Portsoy must..be admitted to differ materially from that of Daouria. 1881 W. R. Smith O. T. in Jew. Ch. vi. 168 The Septuagint translation was made from a copy, which shared many graphical errors of our present Hebrew. |
5. = graphic 5. graphical method = ‘graphic method’. graphical statics: statics as studied by the ‘graphic method’.
| 1784 in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 144 If there is a possibility of drawing a graphical figure that represents nearly the orbit under consideration. 1801 J. Jones tr. Bygge's Trav. Fr. Rep. xiv. 306 Lieutenant Maindon's graphical method of ascertaining the distance between the sun and moon. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857) I. 153 The graphical methods of geometry. 1863 Atkinson Ganot's Physics 187 Graphical methods of studying vibratory movements. 1878 Sylvester in Amer. Jrnl. Math. I. 73 Such a proposition ought to admit of graphical proof. 1886 Chrystal Algebra 1. 306 To obtain a graphical representation of the variation of the function f(x). 1890 Beare tr. Cremona's Graphical Statics (title), Two Treatises on the Graphical Calculus and Reciprocal Figures in Graphical Statics. 1898 Perry Applied Mechanics 1 Teachers who spend most of the time on graphical statics, or the graphing of functions on squared paper. |
Hence ˈgraphicalness.
| 1882 in Ogilvie; and in recent Dicts. |
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▸ graphical user interface n. Computing (a) an interface that allows a user to manipulate graphics on-screen (now rare); (b) an interface in which programs, files, data structures, commands, etc., are represented on screen by graphical symbols (such as icons, menu items, and windows) which can be manipulated or activated directly without the need to learn a command language (cf. WIMP n.3); abbreviated GUI.
| 1981 Computer Graphics (N.Y.) 15 99 (title) A methodology for the specification of *graphical user interface. 1982 Proc. Conf. Very Large Data Bases 22 (title) Graphical user interface for database exploration. 1990 Computer Buyer's Guide & Handbk. 8 iii. 16/2 [The] Graphical User Interface..wraps itself around DOS (MS-DOS 3.X or 4.X), and translates all the commands from obscure word and letter combinations and abbreviations to pictures and images. 2001 ECN Nov. 58/3 The Web browser is the most universally used graphical user interface (GUI) in the world and most importantly, it is free. |