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ˈphysics
[Plural of physic a. used subst., rendering L. physica neut. pl., a. Gr. τὰ ϕυσικά lit. ‘natural things’, the collective title of Aristotle's physical treatises; as an Eng. word, plural in origin and form, but now construed as a singular: cf. dynamics, mathematics, etc.]
1. Natural science in general; in the older writers esp. the Aristotelian system of natural science; hence, natural philosophy in the wider sense. Also, a treatise on natural science, as Aristotle's Physics.
The application of the term has tended continually to be narrowed. It originally (from Arist.) included the study of the whole of nature (organic and inorganic); Locke even included spirits (God, angels, etc.) among its objects. In the course of the 18th cent. it became limited to inorganic nature, and then, by excluding chemistry, it acquired its present meaning: see 2.
1589Nashe Anat. Absurd. Wks. (Grosart) I. 37 Neither is there almost any poeticall fygment wherein there is not some thing comprehended, taken out..of the Physicks or Ethicks. 1602Warner Alb. Eng. xii. lxxv. (1612) 313 Nor wanted thear..that did relye On Physickes and on Ethickes, and..a God deny. 1620T. Granger Div. Logike 56 Whereof some are contemplatiue, as Mathematikes, Physikes, Metaphysikes. 1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 388, I have given to this part the title of Physics, or the Phenomena of Nature. 1674Boyle Excell. Theol. ii. iv. 170 That great Restorer of Physicks, the illustrious Verulam. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Physicks, or Natural Philosophy, is the Speculative Knowledge of all Natural Bodies (and Mr. Lock thinks, That God, Angels, Spirits &c. which usually are accounted as the Subject of Metaphysicks, should come into this Science), and of their proper Natures, Constitutions, Powers, and Operations. 1710J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. i. i. 1756–82J. Warton Ess. Pope iii. §38 [Aristotle's] Physicks contain many useful observations, particularly his history of animals. 1800Med. Jrnl. III. 181 If we consider medicine as a science, or as a system of rules, it..forms a principal department of physics, or experimental philosophy. 1845Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) II. 645/1 Then arose..Roger Bacon, and mathematics, chemistry, and physics generally became as much the studies of Christians as they had already been of the Mahometans. 1858Mayne Expos. Lex., Physics, term for that science which treats of the nature of the qualities which beings derive from birth, in contradistinction to those acquired from art—of the whole mass of beings comprising the universe—and of the laws which govern those beings; natural philosophy.
2. In current usage, restricted to The science, or group of sciences, treating of the properties of matter and energy, or of the action of the different forms of energy on matter in general (excluding Chemistry, which deals specifically with the different forms of matter, and Biology, which deals with vital energy). See quots. 1900.
Physics is divided into general physics, dealing with the general phenomena of inorganic nature (dynamics, molecular physics, physics of the ether, etc.), and applied physics, dealing with special phenomena (astronomy, meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, etc.). There is a tendency now to restrict the word to the former group.
1715tr. Gregory's Astron. I. Auth. Pref. 2 The Celestial Physics, or Physical Astronomy, hath..the preference in Dignity of all Enquiries into Nature whatever. 1834M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxxii. (1849) 361 These motions come under the same laws of dynamics and analysis as any other branch of physics. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. ix. 272 M. Agassiz is a naturalist, and he appears to have devoted but little attention to the study of physics. 1892G. F. Barker Physics i. §8. 6 Physics regards matter solely as the vehicle of energy..physics may be regarded as the science of energy, precisely as chemistry may be regarded as the science of matter. 1900J. B. Stallo Concepts & The. Mod. Physics (ed. 4) 27 The science of physics, in addition to the general laws of dynamics and their application to the interaction of solid, liquid, and gaseous bodies, embraces the theory of those agents which were formerly designated as imponderables—light, heat, electricity, magnetism, etc.; and all these are now treated as forms of motion, as different manifestations of the same fundamental energy. 1900W. Watson Textbk. Physics 2 We are led to define Physics in its most general aspect as a discussion of the properties of matter and energy. It is, however, usual..to exclude the discussion of those properties of matter which depend simply on the nature of the different forms of matter (Chemistry), as also the properties of matter and energy as related to living things (Biology). The line of demarcation separating Physics and Chemistry has never been very clear, and of late years has practically vanished.
†3. The science of, or a treatise on, medicine. Obs. rare.
1626R. Harris Hezekiah's Recovery (1630) 33 For the second, Health: great Salomon hath written a Physicks for us. 1785Jefferson Writ. (1859) I. 467 When college education is done with..he must cast his eyes (for America) either on Law or Physics. |