▪ I. † critic, a. Obs.
Also 6 creticke, 6–7 criticke, 7–8 -ick, -ique.
[ad. L. critic-us (orig. as a medical term), a. Gr. κριτικός critical, f. κριτός decerned, κριτής a judge; f. κρί-ν-ειν to decide, judge. Partly after F. cretique (1372, Corbichon), critique (a 1590 Paré) both in medical use.]
† 1. Med., etc. Relating to or involving the crisis of a disease, etc.; = critical 4, 5. Obs.
| 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1553) G j b, If it [‘jaundis’] appeare in the vj day, beyng a day iudiciall or creticke of the ague. 1601 Weever Mirr. Mart. C viij b, If euer sheild-shapt Comet was portent Of Criticke day, foule and pernitious. 1605 Daniel Queen's Arcadia iii. i, Of Symptoms, Crycis, and the Critick Days. |
2. Judging captiously or severely, censorious, carping, fault-finding.
| 1598 Florio, Critico, criticke, judging mens acts and works written. 1621 R. Johnson Way to Glory 25 That..is now, in this criticke age, called in question, etc. a 1667 Cowley Elegy on J. Littleton, In 's Body too, no Critique Eye could find The smallest Blemish. |
3. Skilful in judging, esp. about literary or artistic work; belonging to criticism; = critical 3.
| 1626 W. Sclater Expos. 2 Thess. (1629) 144 A criticke Scholiast vpon the Reuelation. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. v. 67 Learned diuines and criticke expositours. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 87 A critic judgement is made by experience and prudence and Reason or discourse. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. iii. 153 Critic Learning flourish'd most in France. 1834 Fraser's Mag. X. 19 Matters historic, critic, analytic, and philologic. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cviii, The critic clearness of an eye, That saw thro' all the Muses' walk. |
▪ II. critic, n.1
(ˈkrɪtɪk)
Also 7 crittick, criticke, -ique, 7–8 critick.
[ad. L. critic-us n., a. Gr. κριτικός a critical person, a critic, subst. use of the adj.; perh. immediately after F. critique: see prec. In early times used in the L. form:
1583 Fulke Defence Eng. Bible (Parker Soc.) 381 The prince of the Critici. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxii. xi. 206, I am here forced even against my will to be after a sort Criticus..but to find out a truth.]
1. One who pronounces judgement on any thing or person; esp. one who passes severe or unfavourable judgement; a censurer, fault-finder, caviller.
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 177, I that haue beene loues whip..A Criticke, Nay, a night-watch Constable. 1598 Florio Ital. Dict. To Rdr., Those notable Pirates in this our paper-sea, those sea-dogs, or lande-Critikes, monsters of men. 1606 Dekker Newes from Hell, Take heed of criticks: they bite, like fish, at anything, especially at bookes. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. xlix, Nor play the Critick, nor be apt to jeer. 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 5 How strangely some words lose their primitive sense! By a Critick, was originally understood a good judge; with us nowadays it signifies no more than a Fault finder. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1777) I. iv. 192 We are never safe in the company of a critic. |
2. One skilful in judging of the qualities and merits of literary or artistic works; one who writes upon the qualities of such works; a professional reviewer of books, pictures, plays, and the like; also one skilled in textual or biblical criticism.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §21 Certaine Critiques are used to say..That if all sciences were lost, they might bee found in Virgill. 1697 Bentley Phal. Introd., To pass a censure on all kinds of writings, to shew their excellencies and defects, and especially to assign each..to their proper authors, was the chief Province of the ancient Critics. 1780 Johnson Lett. Mrs. Thrale 27 July, Mrs. Cholmondely..told me I was the best critick in the world; and I told her, that nobody in the world could judge like her of the merit of a critick. 1825 Macaulay Ess. Milton Ess. (1854) I. 3/1 The poet, we believe, understood the nature of his art better than the critic [Johnson]. 1870 Disraeli Lothair xxxv, You know who the Critics are? The men who have failed in Literature and Art. |
3. Comb. (freq. in appositive use).
| 1680 Ld. Rochester Poems 16 A great Inhabiter of the Pit; Where Critick-like, he sits and squints. 1754 W. Cowper in W. Hayley Life W.C. (1803) I. 16 This simile were apt enough, But I've another, critic-proof! 1906 Westm. Gaz. 29 Sept. 14/2 There have been murmurs..against the critic-dramatist. 1938 H. Read Coll. Ess. Lit. Crit. i. i. 17 When such a critic-poet attempts to probe down into such a fundamental question as the form and structure of poetry. 1965 Canadian Jrnl. Linguistics Fall 40 Critic-centred comments on the text. |
▪ III. † ˈcritic, n.2 Obs.
Also in 7 -icke, 7–8 -ick, 8–9 critique q.v.
[app. ad. F. critique fem. (used in this sense by Molière and Boileau), ultimately ad. Gr. ἡ κριτική the critical art, criticism (cf. It. critica ‘arte of cutting of stones’, Florio 1598). Early in the 18th c. this began to be spelt as in Fr. critique, a spelling which in spite of Johnson and the Dictionaries, has become universal; in the 19th c. it has received a quasi-French pronunciation also: see critique, chiefly used in sense 2, while sense 1 is now expressed by criticism.]
1. The art or action of criticizing; criticism; an instance of this. Also in pl. (cf. metaphysics.)
| 1656 Artif. Handsomeness (1662) 216 A Satyrical Critick upon the very Scriptures. 1657 Hobbes Stigmas Wks. 1845 VII. 389 Grammar and Criticks. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. iii, Wee'l make a Critick on the whole Mail Madam. 1690 J. Locke Hum. Und. iv. xx, They would afford us another sort of Logick and Critick. 1697 Bentley Phal. 69, I do not expect from our Editors much sagacity in way of Critic. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 45 ¶4 That Sort of Drama is not..thought unworthy the Critick of learned Heads. 1755–73 Johnson, Cri{p}tick, Science of Criticism [Todd 1818 alters to Critique]. |
2. An essay in criticism of a literary work, etc.; a critical notice or review; now critique.
| 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 571 Own your errors past, And make each day a critick on the last. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 115 ¶1, I shall not fail to write a Critick upon his Performance. 1755–73 Johnson, Cri{p}tick, a critical examination; critical remarks [Todd 1818 alters to Critique]. 1766 E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances III. 4, I shewed your Critic upon the Series to the Bishop of ―. |
▪ IV. † critic, v. Obs.
In 7 -icke, 8 -ick, -ique.
1. intr. To play the critic, pass judgement (on something).
| 1607 A. Brewer Lingua iv. ix. (R.) Nay, if you begin to critic once, we shall never have done. 1629 Lightfoot Erubhin ii, On which words I can criticke onely with deepe silence. a 1698 Temple (J.), They do but..comment, critick, and flourish upon them. |
2. trans. To pass judgement upon, criticize; esp. (in earlier use) to criticize unfavourably, censure.
| 1697 Dryden Virg. Life (1721) I. 71 Those who can Critick his Poetry, can never find a Blemish in his Manners. 1706 Collier Refl. Ridic. 307 'Tis playing the Pedant unseasonably to critick things. 1735 Pope Ep. Lady 81 As Helluo..Critick'd your wine and analysed your meat. 1751 [see critique v.]. |