ophthalmic, a. and n.
(ɒfˈθælmɪk)
[ad. L. ophthalmic-us (in Martial as n. ‘an oculist’), a. Gr. ὀϕθαλµικ-ός of or pertaining to the eye, f. ὀϕθαλµός eye: see -ic.]
A. adj.
1. Pertaining or relating to the eye, ocular; connected with the eye, as a nerve, artery, etc.; affecting the eye, as a disease.
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Ophthalmic Nerves. 1741 A. Monro Anat. Nerves (ed. 3) 44 This ophthalmic Branch..supplies the Glandula lacrymalis. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 453 The ophthalmic artery. 1852 Dana Crust. i. 27 The first antennary and the ophthalmic segments. 1858 J. Martineau Stud. Chr. 304 Ophthalmic epidemics. 1877 [see ophthalmite 2]. 1881 Mivart Cat 208 The ophthalmic artery passes along the inner side of the orbit. |
2. Good for diseases or disorders of the eye; that treats such maladies; that performs, or is used for, operations on the eye.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 155 An excellent ophthalmick matter for the eyes. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Eye⁓water, A choice Ophthalmick Water to preserve the Eyes and Sight. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 91 The seeds are considered..as ophthalmic and cephalic. 1871 Hammond Dis. Nerv. Syst. p. xiii, A competent ophthalmic surgeon. |
3. Affected with ophthalmia; ophthalmious.
| 1845 E. Warburton Cresc. & Cross I. 144 An ugly ophthalmic set..drest in blue shirts and red caps. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 25 Jan. 2/3 Ophthalmic, feeble-minded, ailing, and neglected children. |
4. ophthalmic acid, a tripeptide found in the lenses of various mammals (see quot. 1958).
| 1956 S. G. Waley in Biochem. Jrnl. LXIV. 715/1 The work..deals only with acidic peptides. One such peptide (for which the name ophthalmic acid is proposed) is particularly abundant. 1958 Ibid. LXVIII. 192/1 The electrophoretic mobility of ophthalmic acid, a tripeptide isolated from calf lens, shows that the glutamic acid residue is γ-linked, and hence that ophthalmic acid is γ-glutamyl-a-amino-n-butyrylglycine. 1962 R. van Heyningen in H. Davson Eye I. v. 237 Although liver contains but little ophthalmic acid, extracts of liver will synthesize ophthalmic acid from the amino-acids. 1970 J. F. R. Kuck in C. N. Graymore Biochem. Eye iii. 206 An interesting feature of the relationship between glutathione and ophthalmic acid is that the former is a specific co⁓enzyme for glyoxalase while ophthalmic acid is a potent inhibitor of this same enzyme. |
B. n. (absolute uses of the adj.)
1. A medicine or remedy for diseases of the eye.
| 1653 Culpepper Pharm. Londin. v. 306 Such Medicines as are appropriated to the Eyes... I would have called them Ophthalmics had not the word been troublesom to the reading. 1693 Sir T. P. Blount Nat. Hist. 292 The Liquor of Ants is commended by Schroder for a most Excellent Ophthalmick. a 1800 Cowper in Hayley Life (1809) II. 381 One would suppose that reading Homer were the best ophthalmic in the world. 1870 Talmage Crumbs Swept Up 124 Hepatics,..stomachics, ophthalmics. |
2. The ophthalmic or orbital nerve.
| 1727–8 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Eye, The first branch of the fifth pair, called ophthalmicks. 1872 Humphry Myology 45 Soon after entering the orbit, the ophthalmic detaches a large branch which runs beneath the eye. |