artificialadj.n.
/ˌɑːtᵻˈfɪʃl/, U.S. /ˌɑrdəˈfɪʃ(ə)l/ A. adj.
I. Opposed to natural.
1.
a. Of a thing: made or constructed by human skill, esp. in imitation of, or as a substitute for, something which is made or occurs naturally; man-made.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > imitation > simulation > [adjective] > artificial or made in imitation of what is real
artificialc1425
unnatural1610
mimical1624
mimic1625
faux1684
mimetic1756
sham1762
imitative1839
imitation1840
mocked-up1919
synthetic1930
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iii. l. 5678 (MED) Bawme natural, Þat ran þoruȝ pipes artificial.
c1475 tr. Henri de Mondeville Surgery (Wellcome) f. 157 Close þe lippis of þe wounde &..binde hem & hele hem wiþ wiyn and stupis & pressuris & plagellis & artificial byndynge.
1547 C. Langton Very Brefe Treat. Phisick ii. vi. sig. Gviv Artificiall bathes, be made by mannes witte.
1588 T. Hariot Briefe Rep. Virginia sig. E2 Their houses are..in most townes couered with barkes, and in some with artificiall mattes made of long rushes.
1611 S. Rowlands Four Knaves 22 An artificiall flie of silk.
1663 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Names & Scantlings Inventions xlvi How to make an artificial Bird to fly.
1705 tr. W. Bosman New Descr. Coast of Guinea vi. 73 Gold..mixed with Fetiche's, which are a sort of Artificial Gold composed of several Ingredients.
1753 T. Smollett Ferdinand Count Fathom II. xliii. 56 A knot of artificial flowers.
1802 W. Hutton Life 78 At the foot of this artificial hill stood the castle.
1838 W. Howitt Rural Life Eng. I. i. vii. 101 A garden..is an artificial thing..though formed from the materials of nature.
1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling vi. 159 (heading) Artificial Flies.
1910 W. De Morgan Affair of Dishonour xiv. 214 Every spruce coxcomb nowadays has his pocket-mirror, to comb his artificial locks out.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 920 Part of the difference between the artificial milk and the natural milk is that minute quantities of vitamins or accessory food factors are present in the latter.
1979 J. Harvey Plate Shop vii. 35 They sat down beside the artificial lake filling the largest pit, in the shadow of an old crane.
2006 D. Winner Those Feet 189 From what I've seen, the artificial pitches aren't that good, and aren't going to improve that much. I think the technology hit a ceiling.
b. Originally: designating a device made to replace a missing or abnormal body part; = prosthetic adj. 2. In later use also: designating a device or machine which performs or assists the function of an organ.See also artificial kidney n. at Compounds 2, artificial lung n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > prosthesis or spare part > [adjective]
false1591
artificial1635
prosthetic1872
1635 A. Hildersam CLII Lect. Psalme LI cxiii. 565 If one member suffer..all the members suffer with it; he meaneth, if they be true & living members, for a woodden leg, or an artificiall eye cannot.
1684 London Gaz. mdcccclxx/4 Art of Drawing and Cleansing natural and setting in Artificial Teeth.
1694 True Relation Wonderful Cure Mary Maillard 12 An honest man..who would have made an Artificial Leg for her, to have help'd to support her Body.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. i. 21 It can walk by the help of an artificial Leg.
1783 H. Park Acct. New Method Treating Dis. Joints 16 Some degree of shortening of the limb would be of advantage to the patient, (a circumstance..too little attended to in the construction of artificial limbs).
1820 L. S. Parmly Lect. Nat. Hist. Teeth iii. 75 The pivot soon wears away the fang. Thus the artificial crown becoming loose, it drops out.
?1881 Census Eng. & Wales: Instr. Clerks classifying Occupations & Ages (?1885) 156 Artificial Arm, Eye, Leg, Limb, Nose, Maker.
1966 L. Cohen Beautiful Losers ii. 168 I also have in this trunk a number of artificial phalli (used by women).
2000 M. Ondaatje Anil's Ghost 118 In Europe a new artificial foot cost 2,500 pounds. Here the Jaipur Limb was made for 30 pounds.
c. Designating a man-made object (real or imaginary) that is placed in orbit round a celestial object, in the manner of a natural planet or satellite.See also artificial satellite n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > secondary planet, satellite > [adjective] > artificial
artificial1880
1880 P. Greg Across Zodiac I. iii. 51 The weeks I spent in the solitude of this artificial planet..[in] a voyage through space.
1937 O. Stapledon Star Maker ix. 206 Many a star without natural planets came to be surrounded by concentric rings of artificial worlds.
1963 Listener 14 Feb. 287/1 Mariner has now entered a permanent orbit round the Sun, and has joined the increasing company of dwarf ‘artificial planets’.
1995 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 10 Dec. a 2/1 The unprecedented data were beamed to the Galileo mother ship, now in orbit as the first artificial satellite of the giant planet.
2.
a. Of a system, situation, etc.: brought about by human skill or intervention; that does not occur or result naturally, spontaneously, or in the expected manner. Also of an act or process: carried out by non-natural means.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [adjective] > created or produced > contrived, artificial, or put together
positivec1385
artificial?c1425
craftlya1492
wroughta1500
preparated1569
made1580
elaborate1583
elaborate1592
elaborated1596
handmade1603
arted1606
factitiousa1624
made-up1677
fictitious1686
man-madea1718
got-up1793
gotten-up1796
canned1878
artefact1909
prefabricated1935
?c1425 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (BL Add. 15521) (1850) Matt. 3rd Prol. p. 681b Riȝtly is Matheu first sett, not as bi naturel order bot bi artificial ordre; for bi the naturel ordre, Joon that was last..schulde be first.
1563 T. Hill Arte Gardening (1593) 154 In my litle treatise of Natural and artificial conclusions.
a1639 H. Wotton Surv. Educ. in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1672) 75 How I could build a man; for there is a moral as well as a natural or artificial compilement.
1671 J. Webster Metallographia iv. 82 Being seduced by the similitudes taken partly from artificial and manual operations.
1756 E. Burke Vindic. Nat. Society 90 A State of Artificial Society.
1778 R. H. Lee in J. Sparks Corr. Amer. Revol. (1853) II. 216 An artificial scarcity, created in the midst of plenty, by an infamous set of engrossers.
1825 J. R. McCulloch Princ. Polit. Econ. ii. §5. 193 To give an artificial stimulus to population.
1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 251 Any attempts to raise its price by artificial means..would be ruinous to the wool trade.
1910 Amer. Anthropologist 12 624/1 Artificial shaping of natural substances into tools and weapons as completing man's evolution.
1968 Brit. Jrnl. Plastic Surg. 21 422 A considerable similarity exists between the natural human situation and the artificial experimental situation.
1991 P. Slater Dream Deferred i. iii. 36 The more artificial the system is, the more people will insist on its ‘naturalness’: and the more they insist that it's ‘just the way the world is’.
b. Of a natural phenomenon: produced by or resulting from human skill or design.In quot. 1542: resulting from disease.
ΚΠ
1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Phthisis, is a sore in the lunges with a consumption of all the body commyng of a feuerouse heate consumyng or of a heate artificial and humors in the stomake.
1572 J. Bridges tr. R. Gwalther Hundred, Threescore & Fiftene Homelyes vppon Actes Apostles cxxxii. 734 It is but foolishnesse, to helpe the day lighte with artificiall lightes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 (1623) iii. ii. 184 I can..wet my Cheekes with artificiall Teares. View more context for this quotation
1648 C. Walker Relations & Observ. ii. 45 Many suspected his death was artificiall.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) London 191 Darknesse..made artificial Lights to appear with the more Solemnity.
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Madrier There are also Madriers lined with Tin, which are cover'd with Earth, to serve as a Defence against Artificial Fires.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 337 Experimental philosophers produce an artificial wind, by an instrument called an aeolipile.
1828 F. Watkins Pop. Sketch Electro-magn. 10 Sir H. Davy..was enabled to produce the most intense artificial light ever seen.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. §24. 353 Harrison's..machine for the production of artificial ice.
1931 Movie Makers Feb. 107/1 The catalog will contain many interesting discussions on technical subjects. These include color work..artificial lighting and others.
1975 A. Sandles Ski Bk. 120 Artificial snow is produced by pumping fine droplets of water into the air from a hose.
1999 S. Campbell Walled Kitchen Gardens 20 With the benefits of artificial heat and protective glass,..the productions of a kitchen garden could be extended to include exotic tropical fruit.
c. Physics. Of nuclear transmutation and radioactivity: brought about (as by bombardment with subatomic particles), rather than natural or spontaneous; (of isotopes and elements) resulting from phenomena of this kind, not occurring naturally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactive isotope > [adjective] > produced artificially
artificial1907
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > making radioactive > [adjective] > artificially induced
artificial1907
1907 Lancet 16 Nov. 1364/2 There is no fundamental difference between the natural radio-activity of radium and the artificial radio-activity of the anticathode of an x ray tube.
1920 E. Rutherford in Proc. Royal Soc. A. 97 398 The isotope of mass 3 arises in the artificial disintegration of lighter atoms like oxygen and nitrogen.
1934 F. Joliot & I. Curie in Nature 10 Feb. 202/1 These experiments give the first chemical proof of artificial transmutation.
1957 Times 15 Mar. 8/2 Most of our food to-day (milk, beef, corn, and vegetables) now contain artificial radio elements.
1993 Science 3 Dec. 1515/1 Ever since the discovery that nuclei could be transformed into heavier ones by bombarding them with heavier nuclei, physicists have been cooking up new ‘artificial’ isotopes and elements.
2001 Sci. News 23 June 392/2 When the researchers slammed atoms of the artificial isotope curium-248 with magnesium-26 atoms, they ended up with at least six molecules of hassium.
3. Not natural or genuine in appearance or manners; affected, pretentious.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > lacking natural ease
strainedc1400
artificial1558
forced1621
unnatural1828
1558 W. Bullein Govt. Healthe f. cxv Artificiall women that haue more beastlines then beuty and cannot be content with their natural complexions, but would fayne be fayre.
1598 R. Barckley Disc. Felicitie of Man iv. 316 Artificiall apes, counterfeyting a formall kind of strangers ciuilitie.
1679 E. Stillingfleet Serm. Whitehall 7 Mar. 15 Hence the most artificial men have found it necessary to put on a guise of simplicity and plainness.
1709 D. Manley Secret Mem. 156 The Marquis himself is one of the most artificial Men of the Age; he loves nothing the plain way.
1780 H. Thrale Thraliona 17 Sept. (1942) i. 456 Too Artificial though, too much Book about her—I do not much like Mrs. Price.
1849 F. W. Robertson Serm. (1866) 1st Ser. ii. 20 Some will have become frivolous and artificial.
1858 Queen Victoria Let. 19 May in Dearest Child (1964) 107 That sort of courtier, so pincé and artificial as to be quite insupportable.
1902 tr. P. Loti Iceland Fisherman i. iii. 31 The Parisiennes were tight-laced, artificial women, who had a peculiar way of walking.
1959 H. Hibbett Floating World in Japanese Fiction i. ii. 29 Genroku men of fashion cultivated an equally artificial manner.
2007 Sunday Rev. (Nexis) 2 Sept. 18 I am a fraud. I have cobbled together my personality... I am simultaneously the most genuine and the most artificial person you will ever meet.
4.
a. Contrived or fabricated for a particular purpose, esp. for deception; resulting from artifice; feigned, fictitious. Cf. quot. a1616 at sense A. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > [adjective]
fainta1340
counterfeit1393
pretense1395
feinta1400
feigned1413
disguisyc1430
colourable1433
pretending1434
simulate1435
dissimuled1475
simulative1490
coloureda1500
dissimulate?a1500
simuled1526
colorate1528
dissembled1539
mock1548
devised1552
pretended?1553
artificial1564
supposed1566
counterfeited1569
supposing?1574
affecteda1586
pretensive1607
false1609
supposite1611
simulara1616
simulatory1618
simulated1622
put-ona1625
ironic1631
ironical1646
devisable1659
pretensional1659
pretenced1660
pretensory1663
vizarded1663
shammed?c1677
sham1681
faux1684
fictitious1739
ostensible1762
made-up1773
mala fide1808
assumed1813
semblative1814
fictioned1820
pretextual1837
pseudo1854
fictive1855
schlenter1881
faked1890
phoney1893
phantom1897
1564 J. Rastell Confut. Serm. M. Iuell f. 160v I will sett furth vnto the (Reader) two challenges, to plaie the foole with a foole in the first of them, that he may beholde his artificiall wysedome.
c1650 A. Cowley To His Majesty in Wks. (1710) II. 577 The Artificial Joy's drown'd by the Natural.
1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 43 Washes, As Artificial, as their Faces.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Mood They [sc. direct moods] are denoted by so many artificial Words framed for that purpose, viz...3. Darapti, Felapton, Disamis, Datisi, Bocardo, Ferison.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 2 Sept. 169 Endeavour to kindle in myself, an artificial impatience.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism (1878) I. 319 Religion..became an artificial thing of relics and ceremonies.
1870 N. Amer. Rev. July 195 The Pastourelles of Northern France had become as artificial as the Pastorals of Pope.
1920 in Amritsar Massacre (2000) i. 58 This opposition..was genuine and not a facetious or artificial one as was suggested by some witnesses before us.
1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden (1958) xlv. 446 Joe put an artificial joy on his face.
1962 Taxation of Short-term Gains (Cmnd. 1710) 9 An asset changes hands as a result of a bargain which is not at arm's length (i.e. generally speaking, at an artificial price).
b. Contract Bridge. Designating a bid or bidding system used to signal information about a player's hand to his or her partner by means of a prearranged convention.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [adjective] > system of bidding > types of bidding
pre-emptive1913
takeout1914
shut-out1916
artificial1927
rebiddable1930
strength-showing1930
one-over-one1931
psychic1932
game-forcing1933
redoubled1954
responsive1956
multi-purpose1972
multicoloured1976
multi1977
1927 Times 4 Nov. 17/5 The next step will be an artificial bid of, say, ‘four clubs’ by partner ‘A’ to indicate the possession of the ace of clubs or even to show that he has no clubs and can therefore ruff the ace.
1961 Listener 28 Sept. 485/2 South's One Diamond was artificial.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 11 Aug. b4/1 In the United States a three-club bid at this point is normally treated as an artificial checkback, asking the opener to describe his major-suit holdings.
5. Chiefly Biology and Taxonomy. Designating a classification scheme based on characteristics selected primarily for pragmatic reasons, to enable identification and categorization of the things classified, rather than for any correspondence to natural affinities or essential characteristics; relating to such a system.Recorded earliest in artificial system n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > taxonomy > [adjective] > of types of classification
artificial1761
cladistic1960
phenetic1960
1761 J. Hill Veg. Syst. II. iii. i. 30 It is no great matter how an artificial System is formed: it is an Index, and little more.
1763 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 52 505 As to Micheli,..though he first determined the seeds of Fungi, yet his genera are too artificial; and therefore, he himself follows the method of Linnæus.
1800 W. Nicholson tr. A.-F. de Fourcroy Elem. Chem. & Nat. Hist. (ed. 5) III. 405 We shall in this place explain three artificial methods of classing quadrupeds; namely, those of Linnæus, Klein, and Brisson.
1877 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 1876–7 16 398 The relation of many of them [sc. fossil leaves and fruits] to the plants which they represent..forces, for their description, an artificial classification which the discovery of a single specimen may overthrow.
1905 J. G. Hibben Logic, Deductive & Inductive vi. 56 In an artificial classification, the principle of classification selected is some characteristic which is external to the essential nature of the elements to be classified.
1922 Trans. Amer. Microsc. Soc. 41 175 The student may be taught to use artificial keys and determine species.
1999 Amer. Jrnl. Bot. 86 421/2 These situations led, inevitably, to a very tangled taxonomy and the formulation of artificial classification schemes.
II. Of or relating to art or science.† 7. Of or designating the practical arts or crafts; (esp. of language) technical. Obsolete.
6. According to the principles of an art or science; scientific, systematic.Now rare except in artificial music, used in translating or referring to the work of the 14th-cent. French poet Eustache Deschamps.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > having practical, operative, or constructive skill > according to the rules of art
artificial?a1425
artful1590
art-like1611
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 146v (MED) It is not artificiale ne honorable for to medle perfite wirchingez.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) l. 83 (MED) The forme of procedyng artificyal Is in no wyse ner poetycal Aftyr the scole of..Galfryd.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. P b It is not artificial to eate them [sc. peas] in the huskes (for the nature of that within and the huskes) disagree.
?1541 R. Copland Formularye Aydes Apostemes in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens sig. Rijv In the whiche [Antydocary] shall be gyuen doctryne and artificial maner for to ordre after Rasis, Galyen, Albucrasis, and Auycen.
1609 J. Dowland tr. A. Ornithoparchus Micrologus 39 Rests..are of equall value with the Notes, and are measured with artificiall Silence [L. artificioso silentio].
1684 R. Watson J. Cosin his Opinion 49 Some other improper uses they made of 'em [sc. Marot's and Beza's Psalms], as at their City Feasts, in the place of more artificial Musick, that commonly attend such entertainments.
1724 tr. A. Calmet Antiq. Sacred & Profane 32 Is it possible that a methodical and artificial Poetry..should keep exactly to the same manner of writing, and to the same Rules..for the Space of above a thousand Years?
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. Artificial music, that which is according to the rules of art; or executed by instruments invented by art.
1977 C. Page tr. E. Deschamps in Early Music 5 489/2 Artificial music [Fr. musique artificiele]..is called artificial as an art for by its six notes..one may teach the most uncultivated man in the world to sing.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > [adjective] > relating to practical arts
artificial1531
technic1729
technical1739
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. i. f. 4v They whiche do exercise artificiall science, or corporall labour, do not trauayle for theyr superiours onely, but also for theyr owne necessitie.
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. v. 20 Speech is of five kinds... Artificiall, used by Tradesmen in their severall professions.
1686 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 3) ii. 12 When the Faulcon unreclaimed hath seized her Prey and broke her Neck, (in artificial terms, her Ink) she then falls on the Crop.
1739 Ld. Chesterfield Lett. (1932) (modernized text) II. 400 Technical..from the Greek word τέχνη, which signifies art, and τεχνικός, which signifies artificial.
1794 E. Christian in Blackstone's Comm. Laws Eng. II. 381 He knew their artificial import and signification.
III. Displaying art or skill.† 8. Displaying or characterized by artifice; artful, cunning. Obsolete.† 9. † 10. Of workmanship, a method, etc.: displaying technical skill; expert, ingenious. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > cunning > [adjective]
warec888
craftyOE
hinderyeapc1000
yepec1000
foxc1175
slya1200
hinderc1200
quaint?c1225
wrenchfulc1225
wiltfula1250
wilyc1330
subtle1340
cautelous138.
sleightful1380
subtile1387
enginousa1393
wilfula1400
wilyc1407
sleighty1412
serpentinec1422
ginnousa1425
wittya1425
semyc1440
artificial?a1475
sleight1495
slapea1500
shrewdc1525
craftly1526
foxy1528
gleering?1533
foxish1535
insidious1545
vafrous1548
wily beguile1550
wilely1556
fine1559
todly1571
practic1585
subdolous1588
captious1590
witryff1598
cautel1606
cunninga1616
versute1616
shiftfula1618
artificious1624
insidiary1625
canny1628
lapwing-like1638
pawky?a1640
tricksome1648
callid1656
versutious1660
artful1663
slim1674
dexterous1701
trickish1705
supple1710
slid1719
vulpinary1721
tricksy1766
trickful1775
sneck-drawing1786
tricky1786
louche1819
sneck-drawn1820
slyish1828
vulpine1830
kokum1839
spidery1843
dodgy1861
ladino1863
carney1881
slinky1951
?a1475 (?a1425) in tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1882) VIII. App. 491 (MED) The promptuary of falsenesse, the sawer of discorde, the artificialle detractor, Michael Attepoole.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Mark vi. f. xlviij [They] would for the..settyng forthe of them selfes make vnto the people an artificiall oracion or sermon [L. meditata accurataque oratione].
1649 J. Milton Εικονοκλαστης iv. 35 This is the artificialest peece of fineness to perswade Men to be Slaves that the wit of Court could have invented.
1656 W. Montagu tr. J. Du Bosc Accomplish'd Woman 105 Excessive praises which artificiall men offer.
1702 Eng. Theophrastus 91 The great ones have a Trick as artificial to excuse themselves.
a1777 S. Foote Trip to Calais (1778) ii. 57 You are the most artificial, cunning, hypocritical, mischievous minx that ever I met with.
1868 Family Prayer Bk. (Episc. Church) (rev. ed.) 513/2 Plain, undesigning, though abused men..are subject to be caught and drawn into evil, by political and artificial men.
a. Of a thing: skilfully made or contrived; cleverly constructed. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > having practical, operative, or constructive skill > skilfully made or wrought
craftyOE
well-wrought?c1225
broidenc1230
quaintc1300
craftily?c1335
craftiousc1400
hagherc1400
well-madec1475
artificial1490
well-framed1532
well-fashioned1542
crafted?1548
well-laboured1550
finished1582
well built1605
well-arted?1611
composeda1616
technical1656
affabrous1755
well-worked1865
technic1877
well-crafted1926
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos ii. 14 To destroye soo artyfycyall a werke.
1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India 55 Things made of feathers verie curious, straunge, and artificiall.
1663 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Names & Scantlings Inventions lxxxviii A Brazen or Stone-head..so artificial and natural, that..it will presently open its mouth, and resolve the question.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 875 A most Artificial Contrivance of Nature..to hinder the Regurgitation of the Fæces.
1738 in J. Keill Ess. Animal Oecon. (ed. 4) Pref. p. x The artificial and elegant Structure of the Eyes.
a1766 J. Hales Twenty Four Serm. (1766) I. xi. 252 Whether he considered his lowest part, the Body, the most artificial and beautiful piece of the visible world.
1833 S. T. Coleridge Table Talk 1 July (1990) I. 403 The collocation of the words is so artificial in Shakspeare and Milton that you may as well think of pushing a brick out of that wall with your finger as of displacing a word without injury from one of their sentences.
b. Of a person: skilled in an art or craft; technically or artistically adept. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > having practical, operative, or constructive skill
handcrafty1463
artificial1531
artful1607
mechanic1713
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xiii. sig. Gi They whiche do onely teache rhetorike..ought to be named rhetoriciens, declamatours, artificiall spekers (named in Greeke Logodedali) or any other name than oratours.
c1536 Howe to reforme Realme in R. H. Tawney & E. Power Tudor Econ. Documents (1924) III. ii. iii. 125 To encrease plentie of vitalles in the holl realme..that all artificall people therin may make all thinges grete chepe.
1541 R. Barnes Wks. (1573) 342/2 A conning and an artificyall grauer.
1589 H. Hawks in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations iii. 548 They are very artificiall in making of Images.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xxi. ii. 80 The example of Pausias the cunning painter, and Glycera the artificiall maker of such Chaplets, set them first a worke.
1682 J. Norris tr. Hierocles Golden Verses 2 God who was the most artificial framer of the Universe.
1718 tr. C. Pierson Explan. Glas-work Gouda sig. B8v The Artificial Painter and Poët Christopher Pierson hath curiously drawn every one of the draughts of these Glasses on a sheet of Parchment.
1821 New Monthly Mag. 3 555/2 Mr. Kemble was often artificial; but all his art was employed on those passages where Mr. Kean is merely tricksome.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > having practical, operative, or constructive skill > characteristic of skilled worker
workmanly1421
artificiousc1475
craftsmanlike1547
workmanlike1600
artificial1667
professional-looking1840
tradesmanlike1862
workwomanly1894
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. clvi. lxxxix An Horologe of a Clocke of Laten of a wonder Artyficiall makyng.
1563 R. Reynolds Foundacion of Rhetorike 15 The walle ended, necessitie not artificial workemanship finishing it.
1667 H. Phillippes Purchasers Pattern (ed. 5) ii. 23 The best and most artificial way to make these Tables, is to find certain numbers in continual proportion decreasing.
1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World iii. xliv. §26. 227/2 There was one in Queen Elizabeth's time that wrote the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Pater Noster, the Queens name, and the Year of our Lord, within the compass of a penny, and gave a pair of Spectacles of such an Artificial making, that by the help thereof she did plainly and distinctly discern every Letter.
1734 J. Mallory Mod. Entries sig. b/1 A Declaration..for the Making of Soap in an artificial and workman-like Manner.
11. Logic. Of an argument: relying on sound rational principles as opposed to authority or testimony. Cf. inartificial adj. 3. Now historical.Used only in reference to Ramist logic.
ΚΠ
1584 D. Fenner Artes of Logike & Rethorike sig. B4v More artificiall is that which hath force of it selfe to reason withall.
a1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) xiii. 377 There being two kinds of Arguments or Reasons..whereby Positions or Tenents are wont to be proved, Artificial and Inartificial.
1725 I. Watts Logick iii. ii. §8 An artificial Argument is taken from the Nature and Circumstances of the Things.
1970 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 114 124 Ramus..uses a discussion of ‘Nom’..to use rhetorical examples to illustrate how an artificial argument ‘argues’ the reasons of a thing.
12. Displaying education or training; scholarly. Now rare.In recent use only in reference to quot. a1631.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > scholarly knowledge, erudition > [adjective]
yleredc897
keena1000
wisec1000
leredc1154
wittya1225
cunningc1325
taughta1382
clergialc1386
wittilyc1400
philosophicala1425
erudite?a1475
clergyable1488
informeda1500
studieda1513
estudied1550
learned1556
well-read?1576
scholarly1583
scholarlike1588
well-digested1602
literated1611
artificial1618
scienced1636
clerk-like1638
scollardicall1654
philosophic1665
virtuosoa1667
virtuousa1680
doct1694
blue-stockinged1791
bluestocking1793
scholared1830
eruditical1832
society > education > [adjective] > educated or taught > displaying education or scholarly
artificial1618
1618 S. Latham New & 2nd Bk. Falconrie xi. 38 His Hawke hath hardly bin taught one good qualitie or artificiall condition.
1628 E. Coke 1st Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 62 a Not..understood of euerie unlearned mans reason, but of artificiall and legal reason.
a1631 J. Donne Βιαθανατος (1647) Pref. Scholastique and artificiall men use this way of instructing.
a1847 T. Chalmers Serm. & Disc. (1873) I. xxvi. 579 We must look to men who bear upon their own hearts the impress of Christianity, whether they are with or without a very high and artificial scholarship.
1957 Mod. Lang. Notes 72 334 Those scholastic and artificial men whose avowed master was St. Thomas.
B. n.
1. With the. That which is artificial. Frequently contrasted with natural n.1 9b.
ΚΠ
1546 T. Langley tr. P. Vergil Abridgem. Notable Worke i. xix. f. xxxv The artificial consisteth in those thynges whiche come of coniectures, olde consideracions, and obseruaunces of the entrailes of beastes, fliyng of byrdes, castyng of lottes.
1697 M. D'Assigny Art of Memory ii. 25 The Artificial is that which is acquired by our Care, Study, Invention and Labour.
1847 Times 24 Sept. 7/1 The illusion is not perfect. The artificial is mixed with the natural.
1895 Westm. Gaz. 27 May 2/1 The ego-mania of decadentism, its love of the artificial..and its exaggeration of the importance of art.
1917 Med. Critic & Guide 20 247 Natural vs. artificial birth control... All possible methods could probably be divided into two classes, the natural and the artificial.
1959 B. Wall tr. T. de Chardin Phenomenon of Man iii. iii. 223 Are not the artificial, the moral and the juridical simply the hominised versions of the natural, the physical and the organic?
2001 Brit. Jrnl. Hist. Sci. 34 133 Examples of the lusus naturae, each seeming to dissolve the barrier between the natural and the artificial.
2. An artificial or man-made thing; a product of artifice. Usually in plural. Now rare except in specific uses (see sense B. 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [noun] > production > product > of human art or activity > products of art or artificial things
artificial1610
1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iv. xiii. 222 Such Artificials as are in vse amongst men of Militarie Profession.
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 69 Animalls, vegetables, inanimates, mineralls, artificialls, etc.
1701 tr. F. Burgersdijck Introd. Art Logick xvi. 57 Artificials are certain Accidents Concrete with their Substances.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) II. i. 87 Malt, like many other Artificials, is most genuine, when it is nearest to its Original Nature.
1836 Metrop. Mag. 16 110 Knowing his own hollowness, he on every side endeavoured to entrench himself with splendid artificials, to divert the eye.
1999 M. Negrotti Theory of Artific. 65 (heading) Aesthetical artificials and analytical artificials.
3. In specific uses. Frequently in plural.
a. An artificial fertilizer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > chemical fertilizer
artificial manure1733
artificial1805
artificial fertilizer1826
soil conditioner1952
1805 Communications to Board of Agric. IV. i. i. 5 The soil will dictate to the farmer what sort of artificials to sow for his advantage.
1860 in J. Thirsk & J. Imray Suffolk Farming 19th Cent. (1958) 57 Artificial consumed.
1927 W. Deeping Doomsday xix. §2 Plenty of stock..saved you from having to spend too much on artificials.
1974 J. Seymour Fat of Land (new ed.) iv. 51 Recently it has been discovered that food grown ‘organically’ has a different chemical analysis to food grown ‘with artificials’.
1991 Independent 1 Nov. 17/2 Run-off can occur as easily from a field fertilised with manure..as from one treated with ‘artificials’.
b. An artificial flower.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > types of ornamentation > [noun] > artificial flowers and fruit
paper flower1580
shell-flowers1739
artificial1840
wax flower1843
stone-fruit1851
flower1881
Japanese flower1917
1840 H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xxvi. 196 A bouquet of variegated artificials on one side.
1872 E. Eggleston End of World xxxix. 246 I don't believe in all of Brother Goshorn's nonsense about wearing veils and artificials.
1930 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 15 249 Her head decked with white and red artificials.
1997 C. Shields Larry's Party (1998) v. 83 The florist chain..went upmarket, becoming Flowercity with a whole new clientele and a different product line: more exotics, more artificials and dried stuff.
c. Angling. An artificial bait.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > means of attracting fish > [noun] > bait > artificial bait
minnow1655
grasshopper1676
kill-devil1833
artificial1847
spoon1857
phantom minnow1867
spoon-baitc1878
bone-squid1883
phantom1883
spoon-hook1888
whisky-bobby1904
wagtail1906
1847 ‘Ephemera’ Handbk. Angling iii. 48 Fish..will rise at some outlandish artificial that differs, more than chalk does from Cheshire cheese, from the living fly on the water.
1911 Times 26 Dec. 11/3 Fish cannot distinguish colour..scarlet, blue, or purple artificials are equally attractive so long as they correspond in shape.
1949 A. Wanless Fly Fisherman's Alphabet 53 There are not so many flies which trout feed on and the artificials are definite imitations of them.
1997 J. Wilson Coarse Fishing Method Man. (1998) 116/3 It is well worth investing in a sink-top or even a fast-sinking fly line in order that your artificial, be it fly or spinner, can be presented low down.
Compounds
C1. Opposed to natural.
artificial fertilizer n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > chemical fertilizer
artificial manure1733
artificial1805
artificial fertilizer1826
soil conditioner1952
1826 A. Henderson Pract. Grazier viii. 347 Land in a cold exposed situation, not having the same advantages of the natural fertilizing qualities of the sun to increase the pasture so as to enrich it, requires the administration of some artificial fertilizer to do so.
1916 Publ. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 15 95 The import of Chili saltpeter, representing one half of the total supply of nitrogeneous artificial fertilizer, has been cut off.
1998 D. Pool What Jane Austen ate & Charles Dickens Knew (new ed.) 317 Actually, muck was sheep or cattle dung, a mainstay of farming in the days before artificial fertilizer.
artificial flavouring n.
ΚΠ
1873 Times 10 Dec. 9/5 As the great bulk of the manufacture is intended to be consumed from hand to mouth, the use of artificial flavouring is rendered necessary.
1950 News (Frederick, Maryland) 16 May 11/2 To use them [sc. vanilla beans] costs..7 to 5 times more than for the extracts and artificial flavorings used in many brands of vanilla ice cream.
2006 G. Malkani Londonstani v. 48 People know they should be drinking pani and fruit juice stead a all them artificial flavourings an colourings.
C2. † artificial air n. [after post-classical Latin aer artificialis (1638 in the passage translated in quot. 1682)] Obsolete a gas or vapour produced chemically (as in chemical or physiological experiments) and different from atmospheric air; cf. air n.1 9.
artificial aid n. Mountaineering and Rock Climbing a device such as a crampon, piton, etc., used to assist a climber (ropes and other safety equipment typically not being classed in this way).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > mountaineering or climbing > [noun] > artificial aid
artificial aid1884
1884 Cent. Mag. Jan. 328/2 It is plain enough that they never could have scaled the sheer rock without some artificial aid.
1934 E. R. Blanchet in S. Spencer Mountaineering v. 107 The rope is no longer used merely for safety but also as a means of climbing and may be looked upon as an artificial aid.
2004 On the Edge June 22/1 Their impressive display of free-climbing opened the eyes of local climbers to the possibilities of scaling extreme routes on the intimidating 300m high gorge walls without recourse to artificial aids.
ΚΠ
1682 J. Partridge tr. A. von Mynsicht Thesaurus & armamentarium medico-chymicum x. 154 It is good in time of the Plague to make a Fume in the Chambers and other parts of the House with these Troches... Yet it is not convenient to shut in this artificial Air [L. aer artificialis] all day.
1786 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 76 291 It having been my intention from the beginning to examine the conducting powers of the artificial airs or gasses, the thermometer No 3. was constructed with a view to those experiments.
1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide iv. iii. 547 I should run into an endless digression, were I to enumerate possible physiological experiments with artificial airs.
1860 Lancet 25 Aug. 201/1 The doctrine of spontaneous generation.., revived since 1858 by Professor Pouchet, and communicated to the Academy in his note ‘On the Proto-organisms, both Vegetable and Animal, produced spontaneously in Artificial Air and in Oxygen Gas’.
artificial atom n. Physics an artificial physical system containing electrons in discrete quantum states (resembling those of electrons within atoms); spec. = quantum dot n. at quantum n. and adj. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1980 Sci. Amer. Aug. 97/1 The trapped electron has a spectrum, which can be studied in the same way as an atomic spectrum is studied. It is all very well to create an artificial atom, but if the atom is to be of any use for measurements, there must be a means for observing its spectrum.
1998 Nature 29 Oct. 873/2 Quantum dots are small conductive regions in a semiconductor, containing a variable number of electrons..that occupy well-defined, discrete quantum states—for which reason they are often referred to as artificial atoms.
2004 Nature 9 Sept. 138/2 Josephson qubits (quantum bits) are effectively artificial atoms—two-level quantum systems that use either electric charge or magnetic flux as the primary quantum degree of freedom.
artificial blood n. Medicine a synthetic liquid suitable for use as a substitute for blood in transfusions.
ΚΠ
1865 Proc. Royal Soc. 14 369 Artificial blood for injection.—It remains to be seen whether a fluid resembling arterial blood..may not be invented.
1942 Lancet 26 Sept. 383/2 Since the introduction of systematic therapy, by hot baths and infusions of artificial blood, Ringer's solution or fresh convalescent blood.., there have been no deaths.
2001 J. H. Holloway in R. Catlow & S. Greenfield Cosmic Rays 93 Fluorocarbon liquid emulsions containing perfluorodecalin..can dissolve and carry oxygen..and offer the prospect of application as artificial blood.
artificial chromosome n. Biology (originally) a synthetic nucleic acid sequence designed to mimic the structure and behaviour of a chromosome; (now usually) a nucleic acid sequence into which an artificial or modified gene, or a fragment of a natural genome which is being studied, can be maintained, reproduced, and manipulated within a carrier such as a bacterial or yeast cell.
ΚΠ
1983 Nature 15 Sept. 189 Fifty-five-kilobase long artificial chromosomes containing cloned genes, replicators, centromeres and telomeres have been constructed in yeast.
1999 Independent 10 Dec. i. 5/1 The next stage is to synthesise the genes by machine, insert them into an artificial chromosome and add it to a chemical ‘soup’ in which the genes can begin to orchestrate the replication of a novel life-form.
2002 Science 6 Sept. 1638/2 Bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) for detailed genetic studies of neglected species..are useful for storing and cataloging DNA.
artificial climbing n. [compare French escalade artificielle (1949)] Mountaineering and Rock Climbing climbing with the assistance of artificial aids; cf. aid climbing n. at aid n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1951 Geogr. Jrnl. 117 233 The implication that cowardice motivates the climber who uses these aids was unworthy, and will displease many even among those who share..his dislike for artificial climbing.
1994 S. Roper Camp 4 viii. 167 A finger stuck temporarily through a carabiner was the same as a stirrup attached to a piton: it was artificial climbing.
artificial day n. [after post-classical Latin dies artificialis (from 11th cent. in British sources); compare Middle French, French jour artificiel (1362; compare Anglo-Norman jour artificiel period of 24 hours (late 13th cent. or earlier)), Old Occitan artificial dia (c1350)] the period during which the sun is above the horizon, as distinguished from the period in which the earth turns once on its axis (cf. natural day n. at natural adj. and adv. Compounds 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > [noun]
day tideOE
dayOE
daytimeOE
daylightOE
artificial daya1398
open day?a1430
lightmans1567
open daylight?1585
morning1749
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 125v Artificial day is þe space in þe whiche þe sonne passiþ aboute in oure siȝt fro þe est to þe west.
c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 2 The brighte sonne The ark of his artificial day hath ronne The ferthe part.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 377 (MED) The clergy..ȝiffenge attendaunce to preier and to abstinence by the day artificialle, spendenge the nyȝhtes in surfettes and in ryette.
1581 T. Rogers tr. N. Hemmingsen Faith of Church Militant v. 48 The time wherein the sunne is ouer our Horizon, which the Astronomers cal an artificial daie.
1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabbath Vindicated 142 To take the fourth commandement to bee understood of an artificiall day and not of a naturall.
1715 tr. D. Gregory Elements Astron. I. ii. §9. 232 The Cosmical rising and setting is all one with the Morning rising or setting, as if the beginning of the Artificial Day, or the Rising of the Sun, were the same with that of the World.
1853 W. T. Brande Dict. Sci., Lit. & Art 569/2 The division of the artificial day, or time from sunrise to sunset, into twelve equal parts, belongs to the remotest ages of antiquity.
1928 Geogr. Rev. 18 696 Experiments..indicate that a lengthening of the artificial day by electric lights, during the season when the solar day is shortening, has a direct and measurable effect upon the development of birds' gonads.
2005 L. Holford-Strevens Hist. Time i. 4 Jesus, in St John's Gospel, asks ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day?’, meaning the artificial day.
artificial ear n. a man-made object made to imitate the appearance of an ear; (in later use) one made to perform some of the functions of the ear.
ΚΠ
1597 P. Lowe Whole Course Chirurg. i. ii. sig. B3 Secondly to help and adde to nature, that which it wanteth, as to put to an artificiall eare, nose, or eye.
1732 Abridgment Dr. Cudworth's True Intellectual System of Universe II. 610 An ear can no more hear by being an Organ, than an artificial Ear would do.
1766 A. Walker Anal. Course Lect. Nat. & Exper. Philos. v. 28 This vibration..is so increased, that in making its way up the labyrinth, it gives a shock to the auditory nerves inserted in it... The artificial ear makes this very evident.
1819 Repository of Arts 8 245/1 Mr. Curtis..has lately published a second and enlarged edition of his work..; accompanied by a plate of newly invented acoustic instruments, descriptive of the French, German, and Spanish artificial ears for assisting hearing.
1856 Sci. Amer. 9 Aug. 380/4 A gentleman afflicted with partial deafness may have his artificial ears constructed from four to six inches in diameter..and of such light materials that they can be fixed to his hat brim.
1993 Chicago Tribune 13 Apr. i. 4/1 By using an artificial ear called a cochlear implant..the scientists at Indiana University..activated some of those disconnected nerve pathways, enabling rough sounds of the human voice to reach the brain.
2004 A. Brown tr. J. L. Crétien Ark of Speech ii. 31 He cannot hear very well, and indeed his hearing is getting worse and worse. So he has been given an enormous artificial ear.
artificial evolution n. (a) a process of development or change analogous to or likened to biological evolution; (also) biological evolution artificially modified or enhanced; (b) a process by which a computer simulation or model spontaneously changes, esp. as a result of selection between variants.
ΚΠ
1901 Polit. Sci. Q. 16 173 It will contrast for us human or artificial evolution with præ-human or natural evolution.
1912 B. Bowne Kant & Spencer ii. iv. 343 Organic matters are produced in the laboratory by what we may literally call artificial evolution.
1950 J. R. Commons Econ. Collective Action xiii. 192 What is true of artificial evolution by mechanization and domestication is true also of that artificial evolution which we name institutionalism.
1963 Statistician 13 281 In this method of artificial evolution, variants in the original process..are deliberately introduced and the effects of these variations on the original process are studied.
1993 Social Stud. Sci. 23 115 The scientific method..permits even its own automation through the artificial evolution of automata.
1999 J. D. Andriano Immortal Monster v. 132 Dr. Moreau,..who is effecting artificial evolution, is Wells' vision of an irresponsible scientist indifferent to the pain he causes his creatures.
2000 Guardian 31 Aug. i. 3/1 The breakthrough..suggests that machines will ultimately be capable of ‘artificial evolution’—mutating, testing and improving their design far faster than living organisms.
artificial eye n. a man-made object made to imitate the appearance of an eye (cf. glass eye n. 2); (in later use also) one made to perform some of the functions of the eye.
ΚΠ
1635 A. Hildersam CLII Lect. Psalme LI cxiii. 565 If one member suffer..all the members suffer with it; he meaneth, if they be true & living members, for a woodden leg, or an artificiall eye cannot.
1680 True Domestick Intelligence 2 Jan. 2/1 (advt.) The only person most expert in making Artificial Eyes.
1771 Philos. Trans. 1770 (Royal Soc.) 60 316 They must be laid aside in order to finish the artificial eyes by.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 90/2 Artificial eyes are inserted..and the specimen is then placed..to dry.
1967 Times 1 Sept. 8/5 He suggested it could be developed as an interim measure until electronic engineers produced an artificial eye.
1999 Independent 8 Jan. ii. 9/3 For those born blind, an artificial eye may not be all that useful as their visual cortex has not been trained to see.
artificial fire n. (see fire n. 10a(a)).
artificial gene n. Biology a nucleic acid sequence constructed or modified synthetically for introduction into an organism or other biological system.
ΚΠ
1965 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 109 235/1 It may not be long..before some scientist will have made an artificial gene and then will have introduced it successfully into a living organism to see the effects of the substitution.
1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2574/2 The artificial gene remains silent during the period of development when ftz is expressed.
2003 Focus July 69/1 The most talked about risk in GM technology is horizontal gene transfer. What if the artificial genes were transferred to another species?
artificial globe n. now disused a terrestrial globe (globe n. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > earth sciences > geography > map-making > map > [noun] > globe
globe1542
meridian1592
microcosm1606
artificial globe1625
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. vii. 161 The Artificiall Globe is an expression or imitation of the Spheare of the Earth.
1711 Atlas Geographus I. i. 14/2 These Things are demonstrated by the artificial Globe.
1837 Abstr. Papers Royal Soc. 1830–37 3 24 The author was desirous of ascertaining whether he could succeed in imitating the effects of terrestrial magnetism by distributing galvanic currents round the surface of an artificial globe.
1908 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 47 89 Tracing of a meridian or parallel on the ground involves considerations which do not become apparent by an inspection of an artificial globe.
artificial grass n. †(a) grass, or a species of grass, that does not grow naturally in a locality and must be sown (obsolete); (b) a synthetic material made to resemble grass.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > herb or herbaceous plant > [noun] > herbage or grass > cultivated or for pasture
pasturea1400
fogc1400
vesture1455
vestiturec1460
pasturagea1522
feed1580
agistment1598
pasture grass1628
ear-grass1686
artificial grass1733
seeds1794
tath1807
green stuff1895
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming iii. 47 Such Ground as this is best laid down with artificial Grass.
1805 R. Parkinson Tour in Amer. i. v. 198 Pasture-grass is scarcely to be seen in any part of that country, and very little or no artificial grass is raised.
1866 J. E. T. Rogers Hist. Agric. & Prices I. ii. 17 In the absence of artificial grasses, natural meadow was exceedingly valuable.
1962 National Geographic Apr. 548/2 (caption) His lens peeps from ‘gravedigger's cloth’, a canvas covered with artificial grass.
1994 New Scientist 29 Jan. 20/1 Monsanto has been trying a plastic artificial grass called Astroturf in the nests of chicken farms.
2000 PrintWeek 25 Feb. 22/3 L&B's other products like artificial grass, floorings and moulded plastic bottles, are all in growing markets.
artificial gravity n. Science Fiction and Astronautics a simulation of gravity in a spacecraft, usually in a fictional or hypothetical context.
ΚΠ
1927 A. H. Richards Let. in Amazing Stories Sept. 610/1 A Globe as small as that would not possess sufficient gravity to keep such minute beings on it. And if they endowed it with an artificial gravity..it would also flatten out the polar bosses and the equatorial bulge.
1973 A. C. Clarke Rendezvous with Rama (1974) 44 Others proposed hollow, spinning cylinders so that centrifugal force could provide artificial gravity.
1994 Prairie Fire Summer 221 Concepts such as ‘artificial gravity’ belong to the universe of Spock and Data, starships and holodecks, not to the allegedly objective realm of hard science.
2007 Acta Astronautica 58 92/2 Artificial gravity is provided by rotation of the M3 spacecraft.
artificial hour n. now historical a division of time equivalent to one-twelfth of the period during which the sun is above (or, alternatively, below) the horizon; cf. artificial day n.
ΚΠ
1582 T. Lupton Christian against Iesuite f. 63v For as in euery artificial houre is conteined three score minutes.
1747 D. Jennings Introd. Use of Globes & Orrery i. 125 An Artificial Hour is the 12th Part of the artificial Day.
1822 W. J. Hort Gen. View of Sci. & Arts 288 An artificial hour is the twelfth part of the artificial day or night.
2005 L. Kassell Med. & Magic in Elizabethan London ii. 48 ‘Artificial hours’ were measured by dividing the period between sunrise and sunset into twelve, and the same for the period between sunset and sunrise, and thus they varied in length throughout the year.
artificial insemination n. injection of semen into the vagina or uterus (of an animal or a person) by non-natural means; abbreviated A.I.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > types of reproduction > [noun] > by artificial insemination
artificial insemination1897
eutelegenesis1935
telegenesis1935
1897 W. Heape in Proc. Royal Soc. 61 52 (heading) The artificial insemination of mammals and subsequent possible fertilisation or impregnation of their uteri.
1923 in M. Box Trial M. Stopes (1967) 105 I am referring to that paragraph about artificial insemination of women with seed taken from other men.
1979 Cryobiology 16 615/2 Artificial insemination by donor (AID) has become an accepted and effective tool in the treatment of couples identified as having male factor infertility.
2001 Environmental Health Perspectives 109 a315/2 Artificial insemination of livestock has a more than 50-year history in developed countries.
artificial island n. a man-made island or other structure surrounded by or floating on water.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > land mass > island > [noun] > other
desert island1607
holt1611
sister isle1612
atoll1625
floating island1638
sister island1659
tropical island1769
artificial island1775
home island1806
wooden island1808
fire-isle1817
coral-island1831
thrum cap1832
branch-island1834
island-continent1872
off-island1880
hover1892
phosphate island1909
1775 R. Chandler Trav. Asia Minor xl. 143 The artificial islands and portlets which he made by the seaside, are all now equally invisible.
1866 Coshocton (Ohio) Age 19 May 1/6 Gamond..has decided that artificial islands will not be required but that the tunnel can be constructed in four galleries.
1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 4 Feb. 7/2 When drilling from the first artificial island in the Beaufort Sea began the operation was not licensed.
2006 S. China Morning Post (Nexis) 17 Jan. 4 The deep-water port project is estimated to cost $4.6 billion, including an artificial island, a connecting bridge to the mainland, [etc.].
artificial kidney n. a device that performs (some of) the functions of a kidney; spec. a renal dialysis machine.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical appliances or equipment > life-supporting equipment > [noun] > kidney machine
artificial kidney1913
dialyser1944
haemodialyser1959
kidney machine1966
1913 Times 11 Aug. 3/6 Professor Abel has constructed what is practically an artificial kidney.
1961 Lancet 2 Sept. 553/2 Representatives of several artificial-kidney units..expressed the opinion that clotting in the artificial kidney was commoner when machines of large surface-area were used.
2002 J. L. Achord Understanding Hepatitis ii. 20 Such a complication may require that an artificial kidney be used until the patient's own kidneys recover.
artificial language n. an invented language, esp. one designed for international use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > [noun] > artificial or invented language
artificial language1705
natural language1774
Ziph1834
Volapük1885
Esperanto1892
pig Latin1896
pseudo-language1898
Idiom Neutral1903
auxiliary language1905
Panroman1907
universal1907
Ido1908
Mummerset1915
Interlingua1922
Reformed Neutral1922
occidental1926
interlanguage1927
world auxiliary1927
Novial1928
isotype1936
Interglossa1943
Klingon1985
leetspeak1996
leet2001
1705 Philos. Trans. Abridg'd 1665–1700 (Royal Soc.) 3 ii. i. 379 That there have been, are, and may be Artificial Languages 'tis not difficult to prove.
1864 F. M. Müller Lect. Sci. Lang. 2nd Ser. ii. 61 An artificial language might be much more perfect, more regular, more easy to learn, than any of the spoken tongues of man.
1919 G. Willis Philos. of Speech iv. 63 An artificial language, such as Esperanto, can never acquire any literary value, although it may possibly provide a useful vehicle of scientific or philosophic thought.
2007 Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) (Nexis) 2 Aug. 14 A world convention on Esperanto—an artificial language created to work as a universal second language to foster peace and international understanding—will be held from Saturday.
artificial line n. †(a) Mathematics a graduated line on an instrument or chart representing a logarithmic scale of numbers (cf. artificial number n.) (obsolete); (b) Electrical Engineering a network (network n. 4b) that has similar electrical properties to a transmission line (or other specified electrical properties); esp. one designed to simulate an actual line.
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1667 J. Taylor Semicircle on Sector i. vi. 45 (heading) How to work proportions in Numbers, Sines, or Tangents, by the Artificial Lines thereof on the outward ledge.
1729 E. Stone Cunn's New Treat. Sector vi. 20 (heading) To construct the Artificial Lines laid down on a Sector.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 248/2 Gunter's scale..is a large plain scale, generally two feet long, and about an inch and a half broad, with artificial lines delineated on it, of great use in solving questions in trigonometry, navigation, &c.
1863 R. S. Culley Handbk. Pract. Telegr. iii. 46 All experiments for resistance can be as well performed with an artificial line made up of resistance coils..as on the actual telegraph.
1955 R. S. H. Boulding Radar Pocket Bk. vi. 72 An artificial line can be charged from an a.c. supply without a rectifier by making a choke in the charging circuit resonate..with the capacitance of the line.
2004 T. H. Lee Design CMOS Radio-frequency Integrated Circuits (ed. 2) vi. 219 Design an artificial line with a characteristic impedance of 75 Ω and a cutoff frequency of 1 GHz.
artificial magnet n. a magnetic object in which the magnetism is induced rather than natural.
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1731 S. Savery in Philos. Trans. 1729–30 (Royal Soc.) 36 320 Finding this artificial Magnet exceed my natural one, I held the Artificial in one Hand, and the Natural in the other.
1827 Times 17 Sept. 2/6 Mr. John Jackson..has made a valuable improvement in the construction of artificial magnets.
1928 H. Crew Rise Mod. Physics iv. 99 The artificial magnet used as a mariner's compass came into vogue about the year 1190.
2006 Earth & Planetary Sci. Lett. 250 293/1 Coarse, >100 μm sized, Fe–Ni grains have acquired an isothermal remanence through the exposure to an artificial magnet by investigators.
artificial manure n. (originally) any material added in bulk to soil to improve its fertility (now rare or disused); (in later use) a chemical fertilizer.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > chemical fertilizer
artificial manure1733
artificial1805
artificial fertilizer1826
soil conditioner1952
1733 Pract. Husbandman & Planter I. 61 Nor do I know of any sort of artificial Manure which costs less, than from forty to forty-four Shillings an Acre.
1843 J. A. Smith Productive Farming (ed. 2) 139 Of manures of mineral origin, or fossil and artificial or chemical manures.
1922 A. Huxley Mortal Coils 31 His land was farmed in the best modern way—silos and artificial manures and continuous cropping and all that.
2007 Guardian (Nexis) 22 Aug. 30 Mechanically pulverised limestone and oil-based artificial manures, bulk manufactured and delivered to merchants and farms by lorries.
artificial memory n. [after post-classical Latin artificiosa memoria (see quot. 1491); compare post-classical Latin ars memorie artificialis (see art of memory n. at memory n. Phrases 4)] a system of mnemonic devices; the use of mnemonics.
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the mind > mental capacity > memory > retention in the mind > improvement of memory, mnemonics > [noun]
artificial memoryc1545
art of memoryc1545
art memorative1576
mnemonic1662
mnemonics1721
memoria technica1730
mnemotechnics1845
mnemotechny1845
anamnestica1856
Pelmanism1916
1491 P. Tommai (title) Foenix; seu artificiosa memoria.]
c1545 R. Copland tr. P. Tommai Art of Memory sig. Aivv Reteyne this secret very behoueful than into ye artificiall memory.
1562 W. Fulwood tr. G. Gratarolus Castel of Mem. vii. sig. Gviv Artificiall Memorie [L. artificiosa memoria] is a disposyng or placing of sensible thinges in the mynde by imagination, whereunto the natural Memorie hauing respect, is by them admonished.
1650 W. Charleton tr. J. B. van Helmont Ternary of Paradoxes (new ed.) 139 Even as it frequently happens in the artifical Memory.
1747 E. Hoyle (title) A short treatise on the game of whist..To which is added, An artificial memory: or, an easy method of assisting the memory of those that play at the game.
1870 Jrnl. Ethnol. Soc. London 1869–70 2 337 A great many current traditions carry with them a pithy sentence, which becomes a proverb, or a bit of jingling rhyme, which is a kind of artificial memory.
1968 Stud. Eng. Lit. 1500–1900 8 157 An immensely learned work, it traces the art of artificial memory back to ancient tradition and oratorical practice.
1992 S. Rose Making of Memory 326 Artificial memory is profoundly liberatory, transforming both what we need to and what we are able to remember.
artificial number n. [after post-classical Latin numerus artificialis ( J. Napier Mirifici logarithmorum canonis constructio (1619) 16)] Mathematics (now historical) a logarithm.
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1653 Ld. Brouncker Animadversions in tr. R. Descartes Excellent Compend. Musick 87 (heading) In artificiall numbers, or logarithmes.
1654 J. Newton Institutio Mathematica sig. A3 The proportions in the usuall Cases of all Triangles both Plain and Sphericall, we have first cleared by Demonstration..; and then explained the manner of the work in Natural and Artificial Numbers both.
1790 J. Malham Navigation Made Easy i. i. 53 You are then to observe, that every natural number, which consists of two or more places, has an index before its corresponding logarithm or artificial number, with a point or dot subjoined to separate them.
1891 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 14 80 In Napier's tables, k = −10,000,000, and his ‘artificial numbers’..contained another constant.
1924 Math. Gaz. 12 168 Napier in the Constructio (1616) used the term artificial number instead of logarithm.
artificial porcelain n. Ceramics a type of porcelain made by adding glass or frit to the clay paste (also called frit porcelain, soft porcelain, or soft-paste porcelain); cf. natural porcelain n. at natural adj. and adv. Compounds 2.
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1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §376 If you intend Condensation, or Induration you may burie the Bodies so, as Earth may touch them: As if you will make Artificiall Porcellane, &c.
1778 J. Cowan Neglected Wealth of Ireland Explored 4 Clays, for the purpose of pottery, and artificial porcelain.
1879 J. J. Young Ceramic Art 56 Artificial porcelain may be made from..felspathic clay.
1942 Bull. Art Inst. Chicago 36 39/1 (note) Hard paste was called ‘true porcelain’ in contrast to ‘artificial’ porcelain or soft paste, because the material of the body came closer to true China ware.
2004 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 3 July 10 Earthenware bodies and even artificial porcelain carry a much thicker covering [of underglaze] than the finest china.
artificial reality n. = virtual reality n.
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society > computing and information technology > software > [noun] > applications program > virtual reality
artificial reality1969
virtual reality1979
virtuality1988
VR1989
cyberworld1991
augmented reality1992
1969 Science 7 Nov. 698/2 This ‘experiment’, incidentally, shows the computer in a new role—that of providing ‘artificial reality’ for testing conceptual models.
1990 Time 3 Sept. 74/2 I'm having my first hands-on encounter with the technological phenomenon known variously as cyberspace, artificial reality or, in a phrase borrowed from computerese, virtual reality.
2007 Bradenton (Florida) Herald (Nexis) 25 Feb. 6 That's just one of the latest and most elaborate of the artificial-reality games being used as a form of viral marketing.
artificial rubber n. †(a) rubber made by subjecting the natural material to certain chemical or physical processes (obsolete. rare); (b) = synthetic rubber n. at synthetic adj. and n. Additions.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > synthetic resins and plastics > [noun] > synthetic rubber
artificial rubber1847
synthetic rubber1906
rubber1912
elastomer1939
1847 London Jrnl. Arts, Sci., & Manuf. 31 448 The artificial rubber is at present prepared in two ways; first, by solution in turpentine and subsequent drying, and chiefly..by merely grinding the native rubber to a pasty mass, and reducing it to thin sheets between a succession of heated rollers.
1869 S. F. B. Morse Exam. of Telegr. Apparatus iv. 85 The kerite, in its condition simply as artificial rubber, is classed under Group V, Class 44.
1909 Chem. Abstr. 3 724 Artificial plastic materials industry... An interesting account..giving descriptions of the process for artificial rubber, leather, and substitutes; celluloid, viscoid, etc.
2002 M. Kurlansky Salt (2003) xviii. 299 Not only used for bleach, water treatment, and sewage treatment, it [sc. chlorine] is also an ingredient in plastics and artificial rubber.
artificial satellite n. a device designed to be launched into and operate in orbit around a planet or other celestial object, and typically used for scientific or military purposes, or as part of a telecommunications system; = satellite n. 2b.
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society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > spacecraft > [noun] > satellite
space station1930
artificial satellite1936
satellite1936
satellite station1945
earth satellite1949
space platform1951
space satellite1952
satelloid1955
sputnik1957
orbiter1958
1936 Tel.-Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) 1 May 6/3 Mr. Cleator..suggests in all seriousness..the construction of artificial satellites to revolve endlessly about the earth some 600 miles up, carrying supplies for itinerant star visitors.
1947 Washington Post 8 July 3/6 A theory that the [flying] saucers might be artificial satellites came from the British physicist Prof. A. M. Low. The artificial satellite, he explained, might be created by unknown scientists.
1957 Economist 2 Nov. 377 The artificial satellite circling the earth was to be a proud reminder of the distance covered along the road from the wooden plough to the inter-planetary rocket.
2002 N. Bruno tr. M. Massironi Psychol. Graphic Images v. 104 What one observes on a map is not a replica of an environment seen from a potential viewpoint, but what one would see from an artificial satellite high up above the area.
artificial selection n. Biology the development or maintenance of distinct variants of a species by human intervention, such that each successive generation is produced by the deliberate breeding, or the preferential reproduction, of individuals which have particular desired characteristics; contrasted with natural selection.
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1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species iv. 109 If feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change..which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's power of selection.
1931 E. C. Semple Geogr. Mediterranean Region xii. 331 Italy, like Greece, secured the largest financial returns from its relatively limited pastures by improving its stock through artificial selection.
2004 J. C. Avise Hope, Hype & Reality Genetic Engin. 10 Artificial selection acts only on the available stores of genetic variation in closely related creatures that can interbreed, whereas modern genetic engineering can in principle swap genes freely among any living creatures.
artificial silk n. [compare French soie artificielle (1884 in a French patent ( French Patent 165, 349), by Hilaire de Chardonet); compare art silk n.] = rayon n.3
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > man-made textiles > [noun]
acetyl cellulose1879
artificial silk1879
art silk1885
Chardonnet silk1893
triacetate1895
viscose silk1913
Celanese1921
rayon1924
fibro1926
staple fibre1928
viscose rayon1930
viscose1932
Lanital1936
Tricel1954
polynosic1959
olefin1960
modal1977
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from man-made fibres > [noun] > artificial silk
artificial silk1879
poult1883
art silk1885
Chardonnet silk1893
near-silka1911
viscose silk1913
Celanese1921
rayon1924
viscose rayon1930
viscose1932
Tricel1954
1879 Chem. News 5 Dec. 277/2 M. Jules Imbo describes the various attempts made to produce an artificial silk or to coat the fibre of China grass with a solution of silk waste.
1935 Economist 2 Nov. 854/1 Swedish exports to Italy consist to a large extent of chemical pulp..most of it rayon cellulose for artificial silk.
2004 Guardian 24 Apr. (Review section) 12/5 When artificial silk undercut the worm business in the 1920s, the marriage system in Guangdong collapsed as women who had been independent silkreelers entered domestic service.
artificial sunlight n. artificial light resembling sunlight, esp. in its spectral distribution or intensity; (also, now rare or historical) artificial light containing a high proportion of ultraviolet radiation.
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the world > matter > light > artificial light > [noun] > electric light > artificial sunlight
artificial sunlight1863
1863 Ann. Sci. Discov. 167 Thus Kirchhoff succeeded in producing artificial sunlight, at least as far of the formation of one of Fraunhoefer's lines is concerned.
1881 A. R. H. Moncrieff Wonders of Electr. vi. 114 In America it has been proposed, by the aid of lofty towers and powerful engines, to make an artificial sunlight above a city, and thus turn night into day.
1928 Daily Express 27 June 3/6 The Committee on Artificial Sunlight in Industrial Hygiene.
2006 Appl. Surface Sci. 252 7115/2 The effect of artificial sunlight on wool is to remove the 18-MEA surface lipid and produce fibre strength loss.
artificial sweetener n. an ingredient or substance added to food or drink to give it a sweeter taste; (now only) spec. any of various synthetic compounds, typically of little or no food value, which are used as a substitute for sugar.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > sweetener > [noun] > synthetic sweeteners
saccharin1885
dulcin1893
artificial sweetener1895
Saxin1897
sac1961
aspartame1973
1895 Berrow's Worcester Jrnl. 2 Nov. 5/4 The usual result was a bright, ruby-coloured liquid..; it [sc. cider] had a genuine flavour unsuggestive of added artificial ‘sweeteners’.
1901 Louisiana Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 9 Feb. 95/1 The introduction of artificial sweeteners in place of sugar is a still more noxious practice.
1964 Food & Cosmetics Toxicol. 2 590 The only artificial sweeteners at present approved for the sweetening of food products in West Germany are saccharin (benzoic sulphimide) and dulcin (p-phenetolcarbamide).
2001 L. Perretta Brain Food 29/1 Drinks and foods labelled ‘sugar-free’ contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin.
artificial system n. Biology and Taxonomy a system of classification designed primarily for pragmatic reasons rather than correspondence to natural affinities or essential characteristics (see sense A. 5).
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1761Artificial system [see sense A. 5].
1790 R. Pulteney Hist. & Biogr. Sketches Progress Bot. in Eng. I. 320 Some have imagined, that the more pure any artificial system preserves the natural classes, the greater is its excellence; but experience does not confirm this idea.
1874 Amer. Naturalist 8 386 The faults found with this artificial system were neither few nor vaguely expressed.
1979 Systematic Zool. 28 16/2 To declare that artificial systems are futile (that they fail to resolve a single natural family), Adanson previously had to decide what the natural families are.
artificial turf n. any of various synthetic materials resembling grassy turf, used esp. as a playing surface for sports (cf. Astroturf n.).
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1928 Los Angeles Times 27 Jan. i. 11/4 Artificial turf forms the putting greens.
1991 Tennessean 16 Apr. iii. 1/2 The new artificial turf is state of the art.
2005 Northern Echo (Nexis) 29 Aug. 9 There will also be..three outdoor sports pitches, including two floodlit artificial turf pitches.
artificial year n. [after post-classical Latin annus artificialis (13th cent. in British sources)] the period from one New Year's Day to another, as distinguished from the actual time taken by the earth in its annual revolution; a calendar or civil year.
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the world > time > period > year > [noun] > reckoned in a specific way > civil year
yearOE
artificial year1705
1705 T. Hearne Ductor Historicus (ed. 2) I. i. i. 3 The Artificial or Civil Year now used, was invented by the Emperor Julius Cæsar.
1861 J. F. W. Herschel Outl. Astron. (new ed.) iv. xviii. 528 The principle of an assumed or artificial year, and adopting two such years, both consisting of an exact integer number of days, viz. one of 365 and the other of 366.
1949 Jrnl. Near Eastern Stud. 8 19/1 An artificial year of twelve months of thirty days each.
2002 P. R. Wilkins Guide Libr. Occidental Chronol. i. 66 By 'artificial Years', I am referring to the calendars of the various civilizations from which my research is taken.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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