a. For forms cf. ECONOMY. [ad. L. œconomicus, ad. Gr. οἰκονομικός, f. οἰκονόμος; see ECONOMY and -IC. The Fr. économique is of earlier date, and may have been the first source of the Eng. word.]
1. † a. Pertaining to the management of a household, or to the ordering of private affairs (obs.) b. Relating to private income and expenditure.
1592. Sir John Davies, Immort. Soul, xii. (1697), 52. Doth employ her Oeconomick Art, And buisy Care, her Houshold to preserve.
1603. Florio, Montaigne (1632), 111. In this Oeconomicke or houshold order.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt, 212. A man … Of naturall goodnesse … Whose courses … serue me for Oeconomike booke.
1650. Row, Hist. Kirk (1842), 193. Imploying them in œconomick & naturall morall dueties.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. i. 295. Oeconomic Poesie … also … Politick Poesie … had their Original from Moses’s Oeconomicks, and Politicks.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., XIX. 408. That I in wisdom œconomic aught Pass other women.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 77. Landlords’ Bills, and other economic Documents. Ibid., Sterling, I. ix. (1872), 55. His outlooks into the future, whether for his spiritual or economic fortunes, were confused.
2. Relating to the science of economics; relating to the development and regulation of the material resources of a community or nation.
1835. I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., ii. 70. The economic experiment.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., I. iv. 35. Principles which will enable us to investigate economic problems.
1883. Manch. Exam., 22 Nov., 5/3. M. Leroy-Beaulieu … one of the ablest writers on economic subjects.
b. Maintained for the sake of profit. Also, Connected with the industrial arts. (The former title of what is now the ‘Museum of Practical Geology’ was ‘Museum of Economic Geology.’)
1854. Badham, Halieut., 36, note. The advantages to be derived from economic fish-ponds.
Mod. The many economic applications of electricity.
† 3. Thrifty, careful, saving, sparing. Obs.
1755. H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. II., II. 96. We should be economic.
1801. Mar. Edgeworth, Belinda, vi. (1832), I. 112. I never saw any one so economic of her smiles.
† 4. Economic Rat: a transl. of Mus œconomicus, a name given by Linnæus to a burrowing rodent found in Siberia and Kamtchatka (now called Arvicola œconomus). Obs.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), I. 378. The migrations of the Economic Rats, are not less extraordinary.
5. Pertaining to ‘economy’ in religious teaching, or to ‘economy of truth.’ Cf. ECONOMY 6.
[1815. J. C. Hobhouse, Substance of some Letters (1816), I. 11. That species of writing called by Voltaire, the œconomic style, or an expedient falsification of facts.]
1851. Robertson, Serm., Ser. IV. vi. (1863), I. 34. His economic management of Truth. I use this word though it may seem pedantic.
6. Pertaining to a dispensation, or method of the Divine government. Cf. ECONOMY 5 b.
1817. G. S. Faber, Eight Dissertations (1845), I. 31. Jacob gives to this agent the … economic title of The Angel.
B. sb.
† 1. The art or science of managing a house; housekeeping. Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 141. That othir point, which to practique Belongith, is economique.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., v. (1623), K iv. As well in Musick as Oeconomick, there must sometime be Discords.
2. pl. (after L. œconomica, Gr. τὰ οἰκονομικά).
† a. The science or art of managing a household; a treatise on that subject. Obs.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health (1636), 16. Aristotle … in his Œconomikes … biddeth us to rise before day.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. xiv. § 2 (1622), 356. Morall Philosophie … hath three parts: Ecclesiastickes, Oeconomickes, and Politickes.
[1621. Bk. Discip. Ch. Scot., 43. Ethica, Oeconomica & Politica.]
1665. Glanvill, Sceps. Sci., xix. 123. The more practical ones of Politicks, and Oeconomicks.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), II. 586/2. Economics, so far as they regard only inanimate things, serve only the low purposes of gain; but where they regard human beings they rise higher.
b. The art of regulating income and expenditure; also, pecuniary position.
1857. Carlyle, Sterling, I. iv. (1872), 27. The family economics getting yearly more propitious and flourishing. Ibid., II. vi. 140. The Original Regulations … a very solid lucid piece of economics.
c. The science relating to the production and distribution of material wealth; sometimes used as equivalent to political economy, but more frequently with reference to practical and specific applications. Sometimes qualified by an adj. prefixed, as in Rural Economics. Also, the condition of a country with regard to material prosperity.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 176. He … engaged to go with me … to Tour D’Aigues to wait on the baron … whose essays … are among the most valuable on rural œconomics.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, iv. (1858), 17. The oppression has gone far farther than into the economics of Ireland.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Ser. I. vii. (1876), 181. Chemistry, natural history, and economics.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, III. iii. 100. Those moral attributes are independent of economics.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, I. v. 138. The improvement of Greece in economics.
1881. P. Geddes, in Nature, XXIV. 526/1. Those sections … were devoted to … physical economics.
† 3. One who understands the art of housekeeping. Obs.
1656. Trapp, Comm. Eph. i. 10. 756. God is the best œconomick: his house is exactly ordered for matter of good husbandry.
† 4. Eccl. Hist. An administrator of the revenues of a vacant benefice [= med.L. œconomus]. Obs.
1616. N. Brent, Hist. Counc. Trent (1676), 611. There being a suit for a benefice, an Oeconomick may be created. Ibid., 735. The Episcopal See being void, the Chapter shall elect one or two Economicks.
