phlogistic, a. (n.)
(fləʊˈdʒɪstɪk, -ˈgɪstɪk)
[In sense 1, mod. f. phlogiston: cf. mod.L. phlogisticus, F. phlogistique (1762 in Dict. Acad.); in senses 2, 3, immediately f. Gr. ϕλογιστ-ός inflammable, inflamed + -ic.]
I. 1. Chem. Of the nature of or consisting of phlogiston; † containing phlogiston, combustible (obs.); connected with or relating to phlogiston.
| 1733 Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 63 [In Phosphorus] The Phlogistic Part is so slightly connected with the other Principles, that the least..Friction or Warmth, sets it on fire. 1774 Priestley Observ. Air I. 188 Common air..deprived of its fixed air by phlogistic processes. Ibid. 50 Plants imbibing the phlogistic matter with which it is overloaded. 1789 Higgins (title) Comparative View of the phlogistic and antiphlogistic Theories. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. II. xxi. 400 Bodies that are eminently luminous..contain a certain species of matter..this is called phlogistic inflammable or combustible matter. 1830 Herschel Stud. Nat. Phil. iii. iv. 300 The phlogistic doctrines of Beccher and Stahl. |
† b. as n. A phlogistic principle or substance.
| 1733 Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 61 This red Earth retains so much of an unctious Phlogistic, that [etc.]. |
II. 2. Path. Inflammatory.
| 1754–6 Connoisseur No. 53 ¶9 Blotches and breakings out..owing to a kind of a phlogistic humour in her blood. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 71 Cases of acute or active inflammation preceded by what is called the phlogistic diathesis. 1854 Jones & Siev. Pathol. Anat. (1875) 321 The phlogistic process in the pericardium. |
† 3. Burning, fiery, heated, inflamed (lit. and fig.). Obs. (Chiefly in rhetorical use.)
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. i. 136 Ethereal Powers! you..Gem the bright Zodiac, stud the glowing pole, Or give the Sun's phlogistic orb to roll. 1802–3 tr. Pallas' Trav. (1812) I. 83 The phlogistic mountains of that neighbourhood. 1821 Blackw. Mag. X. 407 A sorry imitator of that whole⁓sale dealer in phlogistic curses. 1855 Smedley, etc. Occult Sc. 59 Much phlogistic correspondence was discovered. |