Noun: physic
| Singular | physic |
| Plural | physics |
Sample Sentences
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Harke yee Lords, you ſee I haue giuen her Phiſicke, / And you muſt needs beſtovv her Funerall, […] [c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], signature [G4], recto:]
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I ſhould not thinke it ſtrange, for 'tis a phyſicke / That's bitter, to ſweet end. [c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], page 79, column 2:]
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Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief. [1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 34”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:]
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Learn before thou speak, and use physick or ever thou be sick. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Sirach 18:19:]
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...and thus draw out all the unwholesome Air and Stench, which does more harm than any Physick can repair. [1743, Stephen Hales, A Description of Ventilators, page xiii:]
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When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my Father; where, by the Aſſiſtance of him and my Uncle John, and ſome other Relations, I got forty Pounds, and a Promiſe of thirty Pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I ſtudied Phyſick two years and ſeven months, knowing it would be uſeful in long Voyages. [1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Gives Some Account of Himself and Family, His First Inducements to Travel. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 2:]
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Desire is death, which physic did except. [1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 147”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:]
Nouns inflected like physic
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English fysike (noun) and phisiken, fisike (verb; from the noun), from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φῠσῐκός (phŭsĭkós, “natural; physical”), see above. See: Middle English Nouns '
fysike', Latin Nouns '
physica'.