crypticn.adj.

Brit.

/ˈkrɪptɪk/, U.S.

/ˈkrɪptɪk/

Forms: 1600s crypticke, 1600s cryptike, 1600s cryptique, 1600s–1700s criptic, 1600s–1700s criptick, 1600s–1700s cryptick, 1600s– cryptic, 1700s cruptick.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin crypticus.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin crypticus secretive (4th cent.), hidden (5th cent.), of a church crypt (6th cent.) < Hellenistic Greek κρυπτικός obscuring (compare ancient Greek κρυπτικῶς , adverb) < ancient Greek κρυπτός hidden (see crypt n.) + -ικός -ic suffix. Compare Middle French cryptique (noun) dissimulation, concealment (1576), French cryptique of or relating to a crypt, concealed, secret (1820 as noun in entomological use, 1852 as adjective). With sense B. 3 compare crypt n. Compare earlier cryptical adj.

A. n.

†1. Communication of knowledge by secret methods. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] > language

cryptic1605

cryptology1645

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq4^v There be also other Diuersities of Methodes..as that..of Concealement, or Cryptique,&c. which I doe allowe well of.

2. Something enigmatic or hidden; a secret, a mystery. Now chiefly: an enigmatic remark, piece of writing, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun]

rounOE

mysteryc1384

sacramentc1384

secrec1386

secret1390

riddlec1400

concealment1598

arcanum1605

Sphinxa1610

abstrusity1632

cryptic1663

1663 J. Mayne tr. Lucian Part of Lucian 390 Merch. What is the Cryptick or Electra, you speake of? Chrysippus. Electra was Agamemnons Daughter... Next hear what the admired Cryptick question is. For let me aske you; do you know your own father?

1666 W. Austin Ἐπιλοίμια Ἔπη: Anat. Pestilence iii. 84 God..though he hath taught Physitians his art: Some crypticks to them never will impart.

1693 E. Settle (title) The new Athenian comedy, containing the politicks, oeconomicks, tacticks, crypticks, apocalypticks,..dogmaticks, &c. of that most learned society.

1766 F. Blackburne Confessional iv. 76 A casuistical divine is, by his profession, a dealer in cryptics.

1884 H. Hermon Hellerism 117 The cryptic is, as its name implies, a hidden secret.

1957 Univ. Chicago Law Rev. 24 662 Cardozo's writing was pellucid and certainly better understood by students and lawyers than the cryptics of Holmes.

1991 Art Bull. 73 693/2 Such correspondences are not merely impossible to prove; their coy cryptics would have rested on an undynamic notion of high capitalism's endurance from the Second Empire to the Third Reich.

2007 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 8 Apr. 102 Becker and Fagen's so-called Mensa pop, soaked with cryptics, irony, humour, and delectable chord changes, is still soul-jazz for deep thinkers.

3. A cryptic crossword. Cf. sense B. 2c.

ΚΠ

1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 June 6/1 Your Cryptics are a daily joy Which I truly treasure, And your Friday puzzles Add much to my pleasure.

1981 Verbatim 7 iii. 13/1 Frank Lewis..received more reader votes than I did after readers did six each of our respective cryptics.

1994 Toronto Star (Nexis) 11 Sept. a2 Her cryptics will appear in the usual place in The Sunday and Friday Star.

2008 Independent 17 Dec. (Media section) 13/3 I've learnt so much about the world just by solving the cryptic.

B. adj.

†1. Relating to a cave or grotto. Cf. crypt n. 1. Obsolete. rare.In quot. 1617 with reference to manuscript copies of the works of St Ephrem, said to have been found in a cave.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [adjective] > cave

cavy?1614

cryptic1617

cavernal1803

speluncean1803

cavernous1833

caverned1847

speluncar1855

spelaean1882

1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. ii. vi. 241 Giue vs leaue to suspect your Crypticke authors of your owne editions, and but late editions, when we call for Fathers, that is no bastard Fathers, to determine controuersies... So much the more to bee respected and credited, afore your grottæ, or your Cryptæ.

a. Not immediately understandable; mysterious, enigmatic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective]

higheOE

dighela1000

deepc1000

darkOE

starkOE

dusk?c1225

subtle1340

dimc1350

subtilea1393

covert1393

mystica1398

murka1400

cloudyc1400

hard?c1400

mistyc1400

unclearc1400

diffuse1430

abstractc1450

diffused?1456

exquisitec1460

obnubilous?a1475

obscure?a1475

covered1484

intricate?a1500

nice?a1500

perplexeda1500

difficilea1513

difficult1530

privy1532

smoky1533

secret1535

abstruse?1549

difficul1552

entangled1561

confounded1572

darksome1574

obnubilate1575

enigmatical1576

confuse1577

mysteriousa1586

Delphic1598

obfuscatea1600

enfumed1601

Delphicala1603

obstruse1604

abstracted1605

confused1611

questionable1611

inevident1614

recondite1619

cryptic1620

obfuscated1620

transcendent1624

Delphian1625

oraculous1625

enigmatic1628

recluse1629

abdite1635

undilucidated1635

clouded1641

benighted1647

oblite1650

researched1653

obnubilated1658

obscurative1664

tenebrose1677

hyperbyssal1691

condite1695

diffusive1709

profound1710

tenebricose1730

oracular1749

opaque1761

unenlightening1768

darkling1795

offuscating1798

unrecognizable1817

tough1820

abstrusive1848

obscurant1878

out-of-focus1891

unplumbable1895

inenubilable1903

non-transparent1939

1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 285 A Syllogisme many wayes cryptike, is a Dilemma, and a Sorites.

a1712 T. Halyburton Nat. Relig. Insufficient (1714) xii. 214 Instead of plain Rules useful to Mankind, they [sc. philosophers] obtrude cruptick and dark Sentences, rather design'd to make others admire them, than to be useful to any.

1834 E. Moor Oriental Fragments 294 Although such cryptic matters may seem plain in the zeal of inquiry and investigation, cooler readers may be disposed to doubt of their plainness and clearness.

1899 Eng. Illustr. Mag. 21 472/2 He said with a smile, ‘No; I will keep it as a souvenir.’ Which cryptic utterance filled Hallerton's face with bewilderment.

1920 A. Christie Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921) iv. 60 ‘That difficulty will not exist long,’ pronounced Poirot quietly. John looked puzzled, not quite understanding the portent of this cryptic saying.

1940 N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) xv. 225 ‘What did his lordship say?’ ‘His lordship is cryptic. He doesn't say much.’

1953 ‘S. Ransome’ Drag Dark (1954) xv. 146 A call..couched in cryptic terms calculated to fool a wire tapper.

1995 S. K. Penman When Christ & his Saints Slept (1996) xxvii. 376 She shrugged off his curiosity with a cryptic smile, saying she'd explain that evening, after Vespers.

b. Secret, concealed; occult, mystical. Also: cryptographic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adjective]

secrec1386

mystica1398

mystical1516

dark1532

arcane1547

occulta1549

shadowish1561

abstruse1576

cryptical1588

shrouded (also involved, wrapped) in mysterya1616

mysterious1622

mysterial1630

cryptica1638

researched1653

rarefied1662

arcanalc1828

sphinx-like1837

sphinxine1845

abstrusive1848

Sphingine1925

a1638 J. Mede Wks. (1672) i. 187 Not in cryptick or mystical terms, or in..a language which they understand not.

1663 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies (1665) 130 Her [sc. Nature's] silent processes and more cryptick methods.

a1734 R. North Examen (1740) i. iii. ⁋103. 193 This cryptic Plot.

1776 F. Okely Distinguished Pre-eminence of Son of Man Pref. 3 The Method..is Cryptic, or Secret; but will be very discernible to every serious, attentive, and judicious Mind.

1790 E. Ledwich Antiq. Ireland 95 The various cryptic and stenographic modes of writing practised by the Romans.

1842 Churchman's Monthly Rev. Oct. 741 The cryptic characters in which the cypher had concealed, rather than preserved, instruction.

1882 A. B. Bruce Parabolic Teaching of Christ (1891) i. iv. 109 His doctrine was open and not cryptic.

1910 Amer. Jrnl. Relig. Psychol. & Educ. 4 24 Asia Minor was a veritable hotbed of Gnostic, Mithraic and other mystic societies with temples..and elaborate cryptic rituals.

1958 Observer 11 May 15/5 I can only suppose it was written by a cryptic agent of the Pope.

1999 N. L. Brann Trithemius & Magical Theol. v. 160 The defamed version of his cryptic art set forth in the De vanitate.

c. Of a clue for a crossword puzzle: using indirect devices such as hidden words, anagrams, puns, secondary definitions, etc., to conceal the answer. Of a crossword puzzle: consisting of such clues.

ΚΠ

1941 Times 23 July 6/5 O nameless coiner of the cryptic clue, O master of delusive definition.

1952 J. Kirkup Correct Compassion 65 Beyond the curtain's crisp white arabesque The sun solves like a cryptic crossword-puzzle The rooftops' half-dried squares of slate.

1966 D. S. Macnutt Ximenes on Art of Crossword ii. 18 The first composer to use cryptic clues at all extensively was Torquemada, first in the Saturday Westminster, and soon afterwards when he started his famous Observer series in March 1926.

1997 Brainwaves Catal. (Innovations Plc.) Christmas 32/3 This 90cm..square puzzle is printed with a giant cryptic crossword offering hours of entertainment.

2009 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 29 Aug. (Spectrum section) 28 On paper, anagrams are the easier cryptic clues.

3. Of the nature of a crypt or vault; provided with a crypt.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > crypt > [adjective]

cryptal1754

cryptic1772

1772 S. Paterson Joineriana II. 53 The cryptic dormitory, in which will be deposited only the remains of people of fashion.

1790 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1789 3 Antiquities 81 Stone-roofed criptic churches and round towers became common in this island.

1878 in G. P. Lathrop Masque of Poets 26 The uncrumbled cryptic place Of still sarcophagi.

1882 Society 4 Nov. 21/2 One of those coved cryptic rooms found so generally in South Germany.

1904 Rec. Christian Work May 328/2 The torchlight cast its uncertain glimmer in those cryptic chambers.

1980 J. E. Hogle in Arizona Q. 36 355 He is reduced by his monkish captors to a wasted prisoner in a cryptic vault.

1998 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 14 June g1 (caption) Where skeletons and cherubs mingle—the cryptic room behind the altar at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory.

4. Chiefly Biology. Of a property, form, etc.: present but not manifest or readily detectable; (of species) morphologically similar but unable to hybridize or interbreed; (of a gene) present but not normally expressed. Also: relating to or characterized by such a property, form, etc.

ΚΠ

1880 C. V. Riley Cotton Worm (Bull. U.S. Entomol. Comm. No. 3) 129 The cryptic germ of the insect is to be found with the germ of the plant itself.

1930 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 16 178 Cryptic types have been discovered..which when crossed with a standard line cause in meiosis the appearance of closed circles or chains of 4 to 6 attached chromosomes.

1940 C. D. Darlington in J. Huxley New Systematics 158 In the higher animals..cryptic species may arise by the differentiation of mating instincts establishing a genetic isolation without any change of form.

1970 Nature 20 June 1088/1 85 per cent of the sites capable of bonding concanavalin A are cryptic in untransformed cells but become exposed after transformation.

1975 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72 3589/1 Differentiation has also uncovered, as an organismic phenotype, a hitherto cryptic gene, steel, whose presence was unsuspected.

1989 Nature 12 Jan. 119/3 A cryptic (that is, usually non-expressed) set of genes in Escherichia coli..allows cells to metabolize β-glucoside sugars.

2006 Biol. Bull. 211 83/1 Failure to distinguish cryptic species can confound our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes.

5. Zoology. Of markings, coloration, behaviour, etc.: serving for or giving concealment or camouflage; (of an animal) exhibiting such coloration or behaviour. Also: (of a nest or other site) concealed, camouflaged.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > animal body > markings or colourings > [adjective] > protectively concealing

cryptic1890

procryptic1890

syncryptic1901

1890 E. B. Poulton Colours of Animals xvii. 336 Protective and Aggressive Resemblances are classed as Cryptic Colours (Procryptic and Anticryptic).

1933 Discovery Sept. 277/1 The pattern of tigers, in fact of all cats, and also of zebras, is really cryptic.

1981 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 50 734 Female L. vivipara should shift during pregnancy from a flight tactic towards cryptic behaviour.

1988 Sci. Amer. Jan. 57/1 The male's need to choose and protect a cryptic spawning site.

2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies xx. 669 Crab spiders typically make their living as solitary, cryptic ambush predators.

2009 S. F. Ferrari in P. A. Gerber et al. Compar. Perspectives Study of Behavior x. 262 Like tits and owl monkeys, sakis are known for their relatively cryptic behavior, and are notoriously difficult to observe in the wild.

6. Ecology. = cryptozoic adj.²

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > by habitat > [adjective] > relating to fauna > relating to particular types of

cryptic1897

cryptobiotic1914

microfaunal1935

microbenthic1941

Ediacaran1961

macrobenthic1967

meiobenthic1969

Ediacarian1972

1897 Nature 30 Sept. 517 The Termites are tropical or sub-tropical in habitat;..living in vast concealed communities, their cryptic manner of life renders the task of observation extremely prolonged and arduous.

1918 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 90 135 It has been suggested that the Veretillidæ are degenerate, but..they are not parasitic, sedentary, nor cryptic in habit.

1982 Smithsonian Contrib. Sci. No. 12. 127 An unusual cryptic habitat having an extensive covering of serpulid worms was discovered in a submerged Pleistocene cave.

2001 K. Fauchald in G. W. Rouse & F. Pleijel Polychaetes p. xi Most polychaetes are cryptic, living under rocks or burying themselves in sediment.

Compounds

cryptic syllogism n. Logic (now rare) a syllogism of which the premises are not fully or explicitly stated.See quot. 1620 at sense B. 2a for a use of cryptic in a more general sense in the context of syllogisms.

ΚΠ

1870 Month June 687 They [sc. the Doctors of our Catholic schools] almost universally made use of what are called by some cryptic syllogisms.

1935 A. H. Gilbert tr. J. Milton Art of Logic ii, in Wks. XI. 467 The sorites is a cryptic syllogism of many propositions so progressing in a continued series.

1972 Stud. Eng. Lit. 1500–1900 12 138 The most dazzling display of his rhetoric and reasoning occurs in the cryptic syllogisms of lines 698-702.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	cryptic
释义	crypticn.adj. Brit. /ˈkrɪptɪk/, U.S. /ˈkrɪptɪk/ Forms: 1600s crypticke, 1600s cryptike, 1600s cryptique, 1600s–1700s criptic, 1600s–1700s criptick, 1600s–1700s cryptick, 1600s– cryptic, 1700s cruptick. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin crypticus. Etymology: < post-classical Latin crypticus secretive (4th cent.), hidden (5th cent.), of a church crypt (6th cent.) < Hellenistic Greek κρυπτικός obscuring (compare ancient Greek κρυπτικῶς , adverb) < ancient Greek κρυπτός hidden (see crypt n.) + -ικός -ic suffix. Compare Middle French cryptique (noun) dissimulation, concealment (1576), French cryptique of or relating to a crypt, concealed, secret (1820 as noun in entomological use, 1852 as adjective). With sense B. 3 compare crypt n. Compare earlier cryptical adj. A. n. †1. Communication of knowledge by secret methods. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] > language cryptic1605 cryptology1645 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq4^v There be also other Diuersities of Methodes..as that..of Concealement, or Cryptique,&c. which I doe allowe well of. View more context for this quotation 2. Something enigmatic or hidden; a secret, a mystery. Now chiefly: an enigmatic remark, piece of writing, etc. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [noun] rounOE mysteryc1384 sacramentc1384 secrec1386 secret1390 riddlec1400 concealment1598 arcanum1605 Sphinxa1610 abstrusity1632 cryptic1663 1663 J. Mayne tr. Lucian Part of Lucian 390 Merch. What is the Cryptick or Electra, you speake of? Chrysippus. Electra was Agamemnons Daughter... Next hear what the admired Cryptick question is. For let me aske you; do you know your own father? 1666 W. Austin Ἐπιλοίμια Ἔπη: Anat. Pestilence iii. 84 God..though he hath taught Physitians his art: Some crypticks to them never will impart. 1693 E. Settle (title) The new Athenian comedy, containing the politicks, oeconomicks, tacticks, crypticks, apocalypticks,..dogmaticks, &c. of that most learned society. 1766 F. Blackburne Confessional iv. 76 A casuistical divine is, by his profession, a dealer in cryptics. 1884 H. Hermon Hellerism 117 The cryptic is, as its name implies, a hidden secret. 1957 Univ. Chicago Law Rev. 24 662 Cardozo's writing was pellucid and certainly better understood by students and lawyers than the cryptics of Holmes. 1991 Art Bull. 73 693/2 Such correspondences are not merely impossible to prove; their coy cryptics would have rested on an undynamic notion of high capitalism's endurance from the Second Empire to the Third Reich. 2007 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 8 Apr. 102 Becker and Fagen's so-called Mensa pop, soaked with cryptics, irony, humour, and delectable chord changes, is still soul-jazz for deep thinkers. 3. A cryptic crossword. Cf. sense B. 2c. ΚΠ 1978 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 29 June 6/1 Your Cryptics are a daily joy Which I truly treasure, And your Friday puzzles Add much to my pleasure. 1981 Verbatim 7 iii. 13/1 Frank Lewis..received more reader votes than I did after readers did six each of our respective cryptics. 1994 Toronto Star (Nexis) 11 Sept. a2 Her cryptics will appear in the usual place in The Sunday and Friday Star. 2008 Independent 17 Dec. (Media section) 13/3 I've learnt so much about the world just by solving the cryptic. B. adj. †1. Relating to a cave or grotto. Cf. crypt n. 1. Obsolete. rare.In quot. 1617 with reference to manuscript copies of the works of St Ephrem, said to have been found in a cave. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [adjective] > cave cavy?1614 cryptic1617 cavernal1803 speluncean1803 cavernous1833 caverned1847 speluncar1855 spelaean1882 1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. ii. vi. 241 Giue vs leaue to suspect your Crypticke authors of your owne editions, and but late editions, when we call for Fathers, that is no bastard Fathers, to determine controuersies... So much the more to bee respected and credited, afore your grottæ, or your Cryptæ. 2. a. Not immediately understandable; mysterious, enigmatic. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective] higheOE dighela1000 deepc1000 darkOE starkOE dusk?c1225 subtle1340 dimc1350 subtilea1393 covert1393 mystica1398 murka1400 cloudyc1400 hard?c1400 mistyc1400 unclearc1400 diffuse1430 abstractc1450 diffused?1456 exquisitec1460 obnubilous?a1475 obscure?a1475 covered1484 intricate?a1500 nice?a1500 perplexeda1500 difficilea1513 difficult1530 privy1532 smoky1533 secret1535 abstruse?1549 difficul1552 entangled1561 confounded1572 darksome1574 obnubilate1575 enigmatical1576 confuse1577 mysteriousa1586 Delphic1598 obfuscatea1600 enfumed1601 Delphicala1603 obstruse1604 abstracted1605 confused1611 questionable1611 inevident1614 recondite1619 cryptic1620 obfuscated1620 transcendent1624 Delphian1625 oraculous1625 enigmatic1628 recluse1629 abdite1635 undilucidated1635 clouded1641 benighted1647 oblite1650 researched1653 obnubilated1658 obscurative1664 tenebrose1677 hyperbyssal1691 condite1695 diffusive1709 profound1710 tenebricose1730 oracular1749 opaque1761 unenlightening1768 darkling1795 offuscating1798 unrecognizable1817 tough1820 abstrusive1848 obscurant1878 out-of-focus1891 unplumbable1895 inenubilable1903 non-transparent1939 1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum 285 A Syllogisme many wayes cryptike, is a Dilemma, and a Sorites. a1712 T. Halyburton Nat. Relig. Insufficient (1714) xii. 214 Instead of plain Rules useful to Mankind, they [sc. philosophers] obtrude cruptick and dark Sentences, rather design'd to make others admire them, than to be useful to any. 1834 E. Moor Oriental Fragments 294 Although such cryptic matters may seem plain in the zeal of inquiry and investigation, cooler readers may be disposed to doubt of their plainness and clearness. 1899 Eng. Illustr. Mag. 21 472/2 He said with a smile, ‘No; I will keep it as a souvenir.’ Which cryptic utterance filled Hallerton's face with bewilderment. 1920 A. Christie Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921) iv. 60 ‘That difficulty will not exist long,’ pronounced Poirot quietly. John looked puzzled, not quite understanding the portent of this cryptic saying. 1940 N. Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (1941) xv. 225 ‘What did his lordship say?’ ‘His lordship is cryptic. He doesn't say much.’ 1953 ‘S. Ransome’ Drag Dark (1954) xv. 146 A call..couched in cryptic terms calculated to fool a wire tapper. 1995 S. K. Penman When Christ & his Saints Slept (1996) xxvii. 376 She shrugged off his curiosity with a cryptic smile, saying she'd explain that evening, after Vespers. b. Secret, concealed; occult, mystical. Also: cryptographic. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adjective] secrec1386 mystica1398 mystical1516 dark1532 arcane1547 occulta1549 shadowish1561 abstruse1576 cryptical1588 shrouded (also involved, wrapped) in mysterya1616 mysterious1622 mysterial1630 cryptica1638 researched1653 rarefied1662 arcanalc1828 sphinx-like1837 sphinxine1845 abstrusive1848 Sphingine1925 a1638 J. Mede Wks. (1672) i. 187 Not in cryptick or mystical terms, or in..a language which they understand not. 1663 J. Spencer Disc. Prodigies (1665) 130 Her [sc. Nature's] silent processes and more cryptick methods. a1734 R. North Examen (1740) i. iii. ⁋103. 193 This cryptic Plot. 1776 F. Okely Distinguished Pre-eminence of Son of Man Pref. 3 The Method..is Cryptic, or Secret; but will be very discernible to every serious, attentive, and judicious Mind. 1790 E. Ledwich Antiq. Ireland 95 The various cryptic and stenographic modes of writing practised by the Romans. 1842 Churchman's Monthly Rev. Oct. 741 The cryptic characters in which the cypher had concealed, rather than preserved, instruction. 1882 A. B. Bruce Parabolic Teaching of Christ (1891) i. iv. 109 His doctrine was open and not cryptic. 1910 Amer. Jrnl. Relig. Psychol. & Educ. 4 24 Asia Minor was a veritable hotbed of Gnostic, Mithraic and other mystic societies with temples..and elaborate cryptic rituals. 1958 Observer 11 May 15/5 I can only suppose it was written by a cryptic agent of the Pope. 1999 N. L. Brann Trithemius & Magical Theol. v. 160 The defamed version of his cryptic art set forth in the De vanitate. c. Of a clue for a crossword puzzle: using indirect devices such as hidden words, anagrams, puns, secondary definitions, etc., to conceal the answer. Of a crossword puzzle: consisting of such clues. ΚΠ 1941 Times 23 July 6/5 O nameless coiner of the cryptic clue, O master of delusive definition. 1952 J. Kirkup Correct Compassion 65 Beyond the curtain's crisp white arabesque The sun solves like a cryptic crossword-puzzle The rooftops' half-dried squares of slate. 1966 D. S. Macnutt Ximenes on Art of Crossword ii. 18 The first composer to use cryptic clues at all extensively was Torquemada, first in the Saturday Westminster, and soon afterwards when he started his famous Observer series in March 1926. 1997 Brainwaves Catal. (Innovations Plc.) Christmas 32/3 This 90cm..square puzzle is printed with a giant cryptic crossword offering hours of entertainment. 2009 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 29 Aug. (Spectrum section) 28 On paper, anagrams are the easier cryptic clues. 3. Of the nature of a crypt or vault; provided with a crypt. ΘΚΠ society > faith > artefacts > division of building (general) > crypt > [adjective] cryptal1754 cryptic1772 1772 S. Paterson Joineriana II. 53 The cryptic dormitory, in which will be deposited only the remains of people of fashion. 1790 Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1789 3 Antiquities 81 Stone-roofed criptic churches and round towers became common in this island. 1878 in G. P. Lathrop Masque of Poets 26 The uncrumbled cryptic place Of still sarcophagi. 1882 Society 4 Nov. 21/2 One of those coved cryptic rooms found so generally in South Germany. 1904 Rec. Christian Work May 328/2 The torchlight cast its uncertain glimmer in those cryptic chambers. 1980 J. E. Hogle in Arizona Q. 36 355 He is reduced by his monkish captors to a wasted prisoner in a cryptic vault. 1998 Austin (Texas) Amer.-Statesman (Nexis) 14 June g1 (caption) Where skeletons and cherubs mingle—the cryptic room behind the altar at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory. 4. Chiefly Biology. Of a property, form, etc.: present but not manifest or readily detectable; (of species) morphologically similar but unable to hybridize or interbreed; (of a gene) present but not normally expressed. Also: relating to or characterized by such a property, form, etc. ΚΠ 1880 C. V. Riley Cotton Worm (Bull. U.S. Entomol. Comm. No. 3) 129 The cryptic germ of the insect is to be found with the germ of the plant itself. 1930 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 16 178 Cryptic types have been discovered..which when crossed with a standard line cause in meiosis the appearance of closed circles or chains of 4 to 6 attached chromosomes. 1940 C. D. Darlington in J. Huxley New Systematics 158 In the higher animals..cryptic species may arise by the differentiation of mating instincts establishing a genetic isolation without any change of form. 1970 Nature 20 June 1088/1 85 per cent of the sites capable of bonding concanavalin A are cryptic in untransformed cells but become exposed after transformation. 1975 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 72 3589/1 Differentiation has also uncovered, as an organismic phenotype, a hitherto cryptic gene, steel, whose presence was unsuspected. 1989 Nature 12 Jan. 119/3 A cryptic (that is, usually non-expressed) set of genes in Escherichia coli..allows cells to metabolize β-glucoside sugars. 2006 Biol. Bull. 211 83/1 Failure to distinguish cryptic species can confound our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes. 5. Zoology. Of markings, coloration, behaviour, etc.: serving for or giving concealment or camouflage; (of an animal) exhibiting such coloration or behaviour. Also: (of a nest or other site) concealed, camouflaged. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > animal body > markings or colourings > [adjective] > protectively concealing cryptic1890 procryptic1890 syncryptic1901 1890 E. B. Poulton Colours of Animals xvii. 336 Protective and Aggressive Resemblances are classed as Cryptic Colours (Procryptic and Anticryptic). 1933 Discovery Sept. 277/1 The pattern of tigers, in fact of all cats, and also of zebras, is really cryptic. 1981 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 50 734 Female L. vivipara should shift during pregnancy from a flight tactic towards cryptic behaviour. 1988 Sci. Amer. Jan. 57/1 The male's need to choose and protect a cryptic spawning site. 2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies xx. 669 Crab spiders typically make their living as solitary, cryptic ambush predators. 2009 S. F. Ferrari in P. A. Gerber et al. Compar. Perspectives Study of Behavior x. 262 Like tits and owl monkeys, sakis are known for their relatively cryptic behavior, and are notoriously difficult to observe in the wild. 6. Ecology. = cryptozoic adj.² ΘΚΠ the world > animals > by habitat > [adjective] > relating to fauna > relating to particular types of cryptic1897 cryptobiotic1914 microfaunal1935 microbenthic1941 Ediacaran1961 macrobenthic1967 meiobenthic1969 Ediacarian1972 1897 Nature 30 Sept. 517 The Termites are tropical or sub-tropical in habitat;..living in vast concealed communities, their cryptic manner of life renders the task of observation extremely prolonged and arduous. 1918 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 90 135 It has been suggested that the Veretillidæ are degenerate, but..they are not parasitic, sedentary, nor cryptic in habit. 1982 Smithsonian Contrib. Sci. No. 12. 127 An unusual cryptic habitat having an extensive covering of serpulid worms was discovered in a submerged Pleistocene cave. 2001 K. Fauchald in G. W. Rouse & F. Pleijel Polychaetes p. xi Most polychaetes are cryptic, living under rocks or burying themselves in sediment. Compounds cryptic syllogism n. Logic (now rare) a syllogism of which the premises are not fully or explicitly stated.See quot. 1620 at sense B. 2a for a use of cryptic in a more general sense in the context of syllogisms. ΚΠ 1870 Month June 687 They [sc. the Doctors of our Catholic schools] almost universally made use of what are called by some cryptic syllogisms. 1935 A. H. Gilbert tr. J. Milton Art of Logic ii, in Wks. XI. 467 The sorites is a cryptic syllogism of many propositions so progressing in a continued series. 1972 Stud. Eng. Lit. 1500–1900 12 138 The most dazzling display of his rhetoric and reasoning occurs in the cryptic syllogisms of lines 698-702. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.adj.1605
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