erratic, a. and n.
(ɛˈrætɪk)
Forms: 4 erratike, -tyk, 6 erratik, -tycke, 7 erratique, 7–8 erratick(e, 6– erratic.
[ad. L. errātic-us, f. errāre to wander, err. Cf. Fr. erratique.]
A. adj. Wandering; prone to wander.
1. First used in certain special applications: † a. erratic star: a planet. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1824 He saw with full avisement The erratike sterres, herkening armonie. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. i. 70 The seuene name couthe planetes, that ben cleped of clerkes sterres erratiks. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. (1873) 47 Cosmaghraphie..sal declair the mouyng..of the sternis fixt, and sternis erratic. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 187/2 The Erratick [stars] are seven. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 32 If..these..stones related to the seven erratic bodies in our spheres [i.e. the planets]. |
b. Said of pains, or diseases which are not fixed, but move from one part to another, as gout, rheumatism, etc.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health cxlviii. 54 The Erratycke and commyxt fever. 1651 Biggs New Disp. 178 Materiall cause of all erratick pains. 1725 N. Robinson Th. Physick. 154 Costiveness, succeeded with a slow Erratic Fever. 1748 tr. Vegetius' Distemp. Horses 12 This Ailment, because it is erratick, all of a sudden removes to the other foot. |
† c. erratic poppy: transl. L. papaver erraticum (Pliny), identified by Eng. writers with the Wild or Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhœas).
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 193 Endive, roses, and erratick poppies. 1672 Jordan London Triumph. in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 494 A wreath about her head, consisting of variety of grain..intermingled with..erratick Poppies. |
† 2. Wandering from place to place; vagrant; nomadic. Obs.; shading off into 4.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Erratique, that wanders or creeps this way and that way. 1725 Pope Odyss. xii. 74 Through the vast waves the dreadful wonders move, Hence named Erratic by the gods above. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶10 When fortune did not favour my erratick industry, I gleaned jests at home. 1757 Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 539 This erratick justice [when the courts travelled with the kings] must have been productive of infinite inconvenience to the litigants. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. ii. 175 Those savages although erratic must remain long enough in one position to cultivate this grain. 1816 Scott Old Mort. Introd., No entreaty could induce him to alter his erratic way of life. 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. II. 220 At this period Delos was supposed to have floated in an erratic state on the surface of the waters. |
b. Biol.
| 1857 Wood Com. Obj. Sea Shore 99 They are rather migratory in their habits, but not erratic, for they seem to go over the same course week after week. 1871 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 286 The first period of their existence, during which they lead an erratic life, then closes. |
3. erratic blocks, erratic boulders, in Geol.: stray masses of rock, foreign to the surrounding strata, that have been transported from their original site, apparently by glacial action.
| a 1828 W. Phillips Treat. Geol. (Humble), The magnitude of the transported rocks is such as to deserve the name of erratic blocks. 1849 Murchison Siluria i. (1867) 19 To the unskilled eye Russia presents only monotonous undulations, chiefly covered by mud, sand, and erratic blocks. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. xii. (1873) 330 Erratic boulders and scored rocks plainly reveal a former cold period. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6) I. viii. 270 We crossed Creag Dhubh, and examined the erratic blocks upon its sides. |
4. Irregular or uncertain in movement; having no fixed course.
| 1841 Catlin N. Amer. Ind. (1844) II. xlvii. 97 My erratic wanderings. 1854 Moseley Astron. lxxviii. (ed. 4) 218 The attraction of Jupiter..upon this erratic comet. 1879 G. W. Cable Old Creole Days 150 Short remnants of the wind now and then came down the narrow street in erratic puffs. |
5. Irregular or eccentric in conduct, habit, or opinion.
| 1841 Disraeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 623 The genius of Dee was as erratic as the course of life he shortly fell into. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 23 To gather up those erratic spirits that now stand aloof from any religious school. 1885 M. E. Braddon Wyllard's Weird I. 17 He did not appear at luncheon, but..he is always erratic. |
B. n.
1. An erratic person: † a. A vagabond (obs.). b. One who is eccentric in modes of action, etc.
| 1623 Cockeram, Erraticke, a Rogue. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. ii. iii. 35 Euripides cals the Bacchic Priests..Erratics, or wanderers. 1816 G. S. Faber Orig. Pagan Idol. III. 340 The canonized erratic vouchsafed to inform Eadmer that he disapproved of returning to his old station. 1835 Fraser's Mag. XII. 274 It is..only by following the erratics through their concentric courses that we can trace out the manifold ways and vices of man. |
† 2. An erratic star, a planet. Obs. rare.
| 1714 Derham Astro-Theol. ii. ii. (1769) 74 Our Sun doth [warm] the erraticks encompassing it. |
3. Geol. An erratic block.
| 1849 Murchison Siluria xx. 505 The huge erratics of the later cold period. 1882 Dawkins in Nature XXVI. 436 Icebergs, melting as they passed southwards, deposited..erratics. |
b. Comb.
| 1881 G. M. Dawson in Nature XXIII. 281 The drift⁓covered and erratic-strewn character of the country. |