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Arctic, a. and n.|ˈɑːktɪk|
Forms: 4 artik, 6 -tyke, -tike, arctike, 6–7 artic, -tique, 6–8 -tick(e, arctick(e, 7– arctic.
[a. OF. artique, ad. L. articus, arctic-us, a. Gr. ἀρκτικ-ός of the Bear, northern, f. ἄρκτος bear, the constellation Ursa Major. Refashioned after L. since 17th c.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to the north pole, or north polar regions; northern. Arctic Pole: the north pole of the heavens or earth.
c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. xxii. 31 The heyhte of owre pool Artik fro owre north Orisonte. 1549Compl. Scot. 48 The pole artic, boreal, or septemtrional. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. iii. (1651) 241 Whether the sea be open and navigable by the Pole artick. 1706J. Phillips Cyder 11, Did not the arctick tract spontaneous yield A cheering purple berry. 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) VI. 2125 We observed several fulmars, and arctic gulls. 1835Sir J. Ross N.-W. Pass. vi. 85 To know what an arctic night can be. 1856Kane (title) Arctic Exploration.
b. Arctic Circle of the heavens (obs.): the small circle of the sphere, parallel to the celestial equator, which touches the horizon of any latitude, and, being entirely above it, bounds all those stars which never set; opposed to the Antarctic Circle, which, being similarly entirely below the horizon, bounds the stars which in any latitude never rise. (The modern arctic circle of the heavens, rarely used, corresponds to the) Arctic Circle of the earth: the fixed parallel of 66° 32′ North, which separates the North Temperate and North Frigid Zones.
1556Recorde Cast. Knowl. 27 The Arctike circle is the greattest of all those circles whiche do alwaies appear, and toucheth the Horizonte in one only pointe..All the starres that bee within this circle nother rise nother sette. 1622Heylin Cosmogr. Introd. (1674) 19/2 The Artick Circle..passeth through Norway, Muscovy, Tartary, etc. 1622Peacham Compl. Gent. vii. (1634) 61 The Arcticke Circle, anciently accounted the Horizon of Greece. 1775Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 45 Whilst we are looking for them beneath the arctick circle. 1834Penny Cycl. II. 289/2 Every different latitude had a different arctic circle; and in the latitude in which astronomy was first cultivated, the great bear just swept the sea, and did not set, whence the boundary circle obtained its name.
c. In Special Combs., as Arctic fox, a small fox of the arctic regions (Vulpes lagopus); A. hare, the polar hare; A. hysteria (see quot. 1924); A. (sea) smoke (smoke n. 3 b): see quots.; A. stone age, an early Stone Age culture of Scandinavia; A. willow, a low shrub (Salix arctica) with pale foliage.
1772Phil. Trans. R. Soc. LXII. 370 Arctic Fox,..Canis Lagopus, Linn. Severn River. A most beautiful specimen in its snowy winter furr. 1840C. H. Smith Nat. Hist. Dogs II. 237 The Arctic fox is smaller than the common, measuring only one foot eleven inches. 1863Arctic fox [see blue a. 12]. 1910Encycl. Brit. V. 371/2 The Arctic fox..of which there is a blue and a white phase, has the tail very full and bushy.
1842Trans. Lit. & Hist. Soc. Quebec IV. 133 The animals frequenting this country, are..the Arctic Hare, a variety of a very large size, [etc.]. 1910Encycl. Brit. XII. 546/1 The other land mammals, the polar bear, the polar fox, the Arctic hare..are perfectly circumpolar forms. 1924S. Novakovsy in Ecology V. 113 Travellers passing through the snowy deserts of extreme northeastern Siberia have more than once come across a nervous disorder, now most commonly known as Arctic Hysteria. 1940Baughman Aviation Dict. 30/1 Arctic smoke. 1941Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLV. 79 Fogs are sometimes observed when cold air streams over a water surface the temperature of which is very much higher than the air temperature. These fogs are known as Steam Fogs or Arctic Sea Smoke. 1945R. W. Mudge Meteorol. for Pilots vi. 106 Land and river steam fog, at times known as arctic sea smoke or convection fog, is the result of cold air flowing over a much warmer water surface.
[1909A. W. Brøgger in Videnskabs-Selskabets Skrifter II, Hist.-filos. Klasse (title) Den arktiske stenalder i Norge.] 1926R. A. Smith Guide Antiq. Stone Age (Brit. Mus.) (ed. 3) 159 The Arctic Stone Age..is represented by slate lance- and arrow-heads, celts..and pottery [etc.]. 1937E. V. Gordon tr. Shetelig & Falk's Scand. Archaeol. vi. 73 A conspicuous and attractive feature of the Arctic stone age in the north of Scandinavia is a distinctive naturalistic art..in rock-carvings and rock-paintings in Norway and Sweden.
1911Encycl. Brit. XIX. 833/1 A carpet of mosses allows the arctic willow (Salix polaris) to develop.
2. fig. in reference to extremeness or cold.
1670Eachard Contempt Clergy 54 Heathens and unbelievers..are all artick and antartick reprobates. 1821W. Havergal in Life (1882) 31 The diocese is still in an Arctic sea, notwithstanding it has had a fine sun in its bishop for several years. 1877E. Conder Bas. Faith iii. 99 Truths within the arctic circle of doubt.
3. Applied by Blytt to the earliest of the successive periods of vegetation in Scandinavia after the glacial period.
1876A. Blytt Immigr. Norwegian Flora 67 We must presume that the arctic flora was here before all the others; that the subarctic came next; that the subboreal and the subatlantic..came later than the boreal and the atlantic. Ibid., Arctic plants should be found on the present shores which were submerged during the arctic time.
B. n. [the adj. used absol.]
1. The north pole, or north polar regions; the arctic circle. Also fig.
1569J. Sandford Agrippa's Van. Artes 14 b, They..that affirme the frosen Sea to be under the Arcticke. 1647Ward Simp. Cobler (1843) 22 Beyond the Artique of my comprehension. [See also Antarctic C.] 1678Jordan Tri. Lond. in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 535 Th' antartick and artick we visit by turn, In one we are frozen, in t'other we burn.
2. pl. Thick waterproof over-shoes for winter wear; in full arctic boots. U.S.
1867Daily Territorial Enterprise (Virginia, Nev.) 1 Mar. 1/1 The ‘arctic’ boots are taking the place of rubber over-shoes,..and are more serviceable. 1878‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly XLI. 327 He shook the snow of his native city from his arctics. 1883M. Arnold Lett. (1895) II. 279, I have bought a pair of arctics, the lined waterproof boots which everybody here [in Boston] wears in winter.
Add:[A.] [1.] [c.] Arctic char [char n.3], a small trout, Salvelinus alpinus, of Arctic waters and northern lakes, much prized as a food fish.
1928Funk's Stand. Dict. s.v. Char, The *Arctic char (S. arcturus). 1937E. Shackleton Arctic Journeys 289, I went to look at a little stream and saw many Arctic charr cruising about at the mouth. 1969H. Horwood Newfoundland vii. 47 There are lake trout, pike and arctic char, all plentiful and all in trophy sizes. 1986B. Lopez Arctic Dreams ii. 45 The lower jaw of an arctic char, eaten a hundred years ago, still glistens with fish oil. |