Antarctic, a. and n.
(ænˈtɑːktɪk)
Forms: 4 antartyk, 4–7 -ik(e, -ick(e, 6 -ique, antiartick, 6–8 antartic, -arctique, 7–8 antarctick(e, (7 anartic), 6– antarctic.
[a. OFr. antartique (= Pr. antartic, It. antartico), ad. L. antartic-us, -arctic-us, a. Gr. ἀνταρκτικ-ός opposite to the north, f. ἀντί against, opposite + ἀρκτικ-ός of the Bear, northern, f. ἄρκτος bear, the constellation of the Bear. The orig. Eng., phonetically modified by passage through Romance, has, like mod.Fr. antarctique, been since conformed to the Gr. spelling, though still often pronounced (ænˈtɑːtɪk).]
A. adj.
1. Opposite to the arctic; pertaining to the south polar regions; southern. Antarctic Pole, the South pole of earth or heavens; Antarctic Circle, the parallel of 66° 32{p} South, which separates the South Temperate and South Frigid Zones.
| 1366 Mandeville xvii. 181 In Lybye men seen first the sterre antartyk. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. ii. §25 Than is the pol antartik bynethe the Orisonte. 1556 Recorde Cast. Knowl. 27 The Antartike circle is equall and equidistant to the Arctike circle. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iv. Introd. 433 The Pole Antartique, that is to say, the South Pole. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 130 Canopus, a goodly great and bright star about the pole Antarcticke. 1645 Howell Lett. Addr., From the Anartic to the Artic skie. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. 1711, 38/2 Antartick parrots, æthiopian plumes. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. I. 453 It is probable that an open sea stretches to the Antartic pole. 1881 Hooker in Nature No. 619. 447 There is no Antarctic flora except a few lichens and sea-weeds. |
† 2. fig. Directly opposite, contradictory, antipodean. Obs.
| 1644 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 129 My Wit shall be on what side Heaven you please, provided it ever be Antarctick to yours. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. viii. 362 So strange an alteration in them both, and so antartick to those good dispositions betwixt them. a 1711 Ken Christophil Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 501 Antarctick Wills in me for Empire vy'd; My Rational to Heav'n alone inclin'd, My Sensual with the World and Satan join'd. |
B. n. [The adj. used ellipt.]
1. The south pole, or the regions adjacent.
| 1366 Mandeville xvii. 182 Thei that ben toward the antartyk. 1596 C. Fitzgeffrey Drake (1881) 20 From th' Artique to th' Antartique famosed. 1662 H. More Enthus. Tri. (1712) 31 The Axle-tree of the Antarctick. 1784 Cowper Task i. 620 Far into the deep Towards the Antarctic. |
† 2. fig. Obs. rare.
| c 1640 Jackson in Southey Commonpl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 77 Antarcticks they are, and think they can never be far enough from the North Pole, until they run from it into the South Pole, and pitch their habitation in terrâ incognitâ, in a world and church unknown to the ancients. |
† C. as v. intr. antarctic it. Obs. [f. the n.; cf. lord it, tree it.] To go to the opposite extreme.
| 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 47 If it [Majestas Imperii] extends itself beyond its due Artique..Salus Populi must Antartique it, or else the world will be Excentrick. |