generic, a. and n.
(dʒɪˈnɛrɪk)
[f. L. gener-, stem of genus kind + -ic: cf. F. générique, used by Descartes.]
A. adj. a. Belonging to a genus or class; applied to a large group or class of objects; general (opposed to specific or special); esp. in generic character, generic name, generic term. generic image, a mental image representing a class or genus of objects, whether formed (as is usually supposed) by blending images of several particular members of that class or by preventing an image from becoming fully determinate.
| 1676 Grew Anat. Leaves i. vi. §5 This Saline Principle..is..a Generik Name, under which divers Species are comprehended. 1678 Gale Crt. Gentiles III. 97 He makes it be only a remote concurse to the act considered in genere, in its generic nature, not to the individual particular act. 1724 Watts Logic i. vi. §4 Though wine differs from other liquids in that it is the juice of a certain fruit, yet this is but a general or generic difference, for it does not distinguish wine from cyder or perry. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xviii. §35 The circumstance of fraudulency then may serve to characterize a particular species, comprisable under each of those generic heads. 1805–17 R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 2 The generic characters are certain properties of minerals used as characters, without any reference to their differences, as colour, lustre, weight. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. v. 98 Des Cartes..showed, in what sense not only general terms, but generic images (under the name of abstract ideas) actually existed. 1821 J. Q. Adams in C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. (1871) 208 The terms ‘weight’ and ‘balance’ were thus generic terms, without specific meaning. 1851 Richardson Geol. viii. 208 The preservation of the generic and specific characters of fossil remains varies in different strata. 1878 W. James Notebk. in R. B. Perry Tht. & Char. W. James (1935) II. 80 Generic images..will be remembered as further instances of facts persistently denied by empiricists. 1882 F. Galton in Proc. R. Inst. IX. 166 The generic images that arise before the mind's eye..are analogues of these composite pictures. 1918 J. Ward Psychol. Princ. xii. 299 The generic image (Gemeinbild of German psychologists) constitutes the connecting link between ideation and conception. 1953 H. H. Price Thinking & Exper. ix. 292 Both Locke and Kant were talking about generic images, though they did not know it. |
b. Of a name or designation (as for some type of product): that is used generally for the article, etc., that it describes, and is therefore not admissible as a trade mark; not protected by legislation, non-proprietary. Law (chiefly U.S.).
| 1849 Woodbury & Minot Rep. Cases Circuit Court U.S.: First Circuit II. 10 It was merely decided, that the Court would not enjoin one tradesman from using the same mark with another, a generic one, ‘the Great Mogul’. 1884 Rep. Cases Ohio Supreme Court 2nd Ser. XLI. 135 It is further insisted, that there is no mechanical device [etc.]..to which the name could refer, and thus become, as it were, generic in its character. 1901 Supreme Court Reporter (U.S.) XXI. 13/2 He should not have waited until the name ‘Hunyadi’ had become generic in this country, and indicative of this whole class of medicinal waters. 1937 Federal Reporter (2nd Ser.) LXXXV. 81/2 From the evidence it appeared that ‘Eureka’ to the dealers in shirts had become generic in referring to the style, but to the ultimate purchasers the word had reference to the plaintiff's own make. 1938 Supreme Court (U.S.) (1939) LXXXIII. 73/1 The original maker of an article acquires no exclusive right to the use as a tradename of the term by which it has become known, where the term is generic. 1967 Times Rev. Industry Mar. 40/1 A number of articles, particularly consumer goods, have acquired the mixed blessing of becoming not only household words but being spoken of as ‘generic’ names. 1984 Executive Newslet. (U.S. Trademarks Assoc.) No. 42. 3/2 Escalator, yo-yo, cellophane and aspirin were once attractive trademarks. They have all been found by courts to be generic and have been stripped of their trademark status. |
c. spec. designating a drug name specially given in order that it may be freely used without legal restriction (esp. pharmacopœias), in contrast to the brand names of particular suppliers; also applied to a product sold under such a name.
| 1953 Chem. & Engin. News 7 Dec. 5117/1 The problem of applying to chemicals short names of a type called variously ‘generic’, ‘nonproprietary’, and ‘coined common’ is becoming increasingly important. 1973 Sci. Amer. Sept. 161/2 The general public is aware of and concerned about such issues as..the debate over brand-name v. generic-name prescription writing. Ibid. 161/3 Ethical pharmaceuticals are..subdivided into brand-name and generic products. 1975 Chem. Week 26 Mar. 17/3 Maintaining bioequivalency among various brands of a particular generic drug should not prove a problem. 1984 Gainesville Sun 28 Mar. 8a/4 (Advt.), Compare & save on your next prescription both ways: brand names & generic drugs. |
d. Of groceries, etc.: not marked with the producer's brand-name, esp. when the product is one of a range of goods offered at lower prices because of plain, cheap packaging. orig. U.S. Cf. no-name a. 1.
| 1977 Time 21 Nov. 80/3 Unlike the major brands, which usually demand top-grade foodstuffs, the generic products are the cheaper, ‘standard’ quality goods. 1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 June 14/1 Loblaw's has just introduced them as part of its no-name line of generic foods. 1980 Australian 23 June 4/6 Australia's biggest wholesaling group, Davids Holdings Ltd, has moved into the boom area of generic grocery retailing. 1985 Times 4 July 25/7 Another six months or a year could..put Liggett out for good, leaving B & W in a strong position in the US generic cigarette market. 1986 Business Rev. Weekly 22 Aug. 81/2 When generic products started to take hold, many consumers began demanding better-quality branded products. |
B. n. a. absol.; also (nonce-use) as n. pl. = ‘generic questions.’
| 1807 T. Sikes in Southey Life of A. Bell (1844) II. 567, I requested you to give me the solution of two generics, which..would suggest to me what sort of matter I should want for your satisfaction. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. II. xxiii. 263 The ideal consists in the happy balance of the generic with the individual. |
b. A generic word; spec. (see quot. 1961).
| 1961 Webster, Generic, an element of a compound proper name that is general and often lowercased (as river in ‘Mississippi River’ and store in ‘XYZ Store’). 1962 Burrill & Bonsack in Householder & Saporta Probl. in Lexicogr. 184 The words hope and folly, encountered in some names, have a topographic meaning and are used as generics in England. 1964 Language XL. 49 Generics may be considered the name given to a particular interpretation of the definite article. |
c. A generic drug or product. Cf. no-name n. 1.
| 1967 Sci. News Let. 4 Mar. 207 (heading) Senate backing of low cost generics could cut retail prices and open new competition between drugs. 1967 Business Periodical Index 1966-7 867/1 (title) Drug potency survey by FDA discloses trade-name products are nosed out by the generics. 1970 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 30 May 25 A pharmacist speaks candidly...I am a firm believer in using brand name products or quality generics from reliable manufacturers. 1979 Glaxo Group News Apr. 1/4 Selling branded generics is the toughest job in the pharmaceutical industry. 1979 Fortune 26 Mar. 70/3 Generics originated in France in 1976 with the giant Carrefour supermarket chain. Carrefour called them produits libres..which it explained were as good as the branded products it sold but free from costly promotion and fancy packaging. 1979, 1982 [see no-name a. 1]. 1985 [see no-name n. 1]. |