Philippic, n. (a.)
(fɪˈlɪpɪk)
Also philippic.
[ad. L. Philippic-us, a. Gr. ϕιλιππικός, f. ϕίλιππος Philip (of Macedon). So mod.F. philippique.]
1. Name for the orations of Demosthenes against Philip king of Macedon in defence of Athenian liberty; hence applied to Cicero's orations against Antony, and gen. to any discourse of the nature of a bitter attack, invective, or denunciation.
| 1592 G. Harvey Foure Lett. iii. Wks. (Grosart) I. 210 What honest Eloquence is not furnished with Catilinaries and Philippiques against Vice? 1603 Holland Plutarch Explan. Wds., Invective orations made by Demosthenes..against Philip king of Macedony,..heereupon all invectives may be called Philippicke, as those were of M. Tullius Cicero against Antonie. 1693 Dryden Juvenal's Sat. x. (1697) 255, I rather wou'd be Mævius..Than that Philippique fatally Divine, Which is inscrib'd the Second, should be mine. 1798 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 227 Mr. Harper and Mr. Pinckney pronounced bitter philippics against France. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) X. 443 Then follows the usual Philippic against England. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. i. 29 note, Lord North, sound asleep during one of Burke's philippics on him. |
† 2. Used to render Gr. ϕιλίππειον, ‘a gold coin coined by Philip of Macedon, worth {pstlg}1 3s. 5d. of our money’ (Liddell & Scott). Obs.
| 1651 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year i. viii. 99 æsops picture was sold for two talents, when himself was made a slave at the price of two Philippicks. 1771 Raper in Phil. Trans. LXI. 462 Some..have supposed the Roman Aureus to have been heavier than the Greek Philippic. |
B. adj. a. Of or pertaining to any person called Philip (in quot. 1650, Sir Philip Sidney); b. of Philippi; c. of the nature of a philippic or invective.
| a 1614 D. Dyke Myst. Self-deceiving (ed. 8) 356 Though the Phillippick Preachers preached of enuy and vaine-glory, yet..what was that to Paul? 1627 tr. Bacon's Life & Death (1651) 16 She survived the Philippick Battaile sixty⁓four yeares. 1650 Milton Eikon. i. (1770) 29 What I tell them for a truth, that this philippic prayer is no part of the Kings goodes. 1707 Toland (title) A Phillippick Oration to incite the English against the French. |
Hence Phiˈlippicize (-saɪz) v. intr., to utter a philippic or invective; also trans., to bring or put into some condition by doing this.
| 1799 Southey Let. to G. C. Bedford 21 Dec. in Life (1850) II. 33 However, I need not philippicise, and it is too late to veer about. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLVI. 173 We have Philippicized ourselves into a perspiration. |