1. Pertaining to a household or its management; resembling what prevails in a household. arch.
1579. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (1884), 6. The other œconomical matter you wotte of.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 493. Oeconomicall science, that is … the art of ruling a house well.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 6. Those priuate vertues … concerne his economicall administration.
1680. Sir R. Filmer, Patriarcha, ii. § 2. Adam had only economical power, but not political.
1749. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. iv. § 1. 425. Œconomical Convenience first determined the Ratio’s of Doors, Windows, Pillars, &c.
b. Pertaining to pecuniary position.
1825–45. Carlyle, Schiller, App. (ed. 2), 270. My economical circumstances render it impossible for me to travel much.
2. Pertaining to, or concerned with the development of material resources; relating to political economy. Cf. ECONOMY 3.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. xxxi. 173. The economical writers of antiquity … recommend the former method.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 117–8. Even commerce, and trade, and manufacture, the gods of our œconomical politicians, are themselves perhaps but creatures.
1878. Morley, Condorcet, Crit. Misc., 43. Why did not France sink under her economical disorders, as greater empires than France had done?
b. = ECONOMIC 2 b.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 211. He had the direction … of the œconomical garden.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art, II. 28. Many very important applications of this principle have been made by Count Rumford to œconomical purposes.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, v. 99. Bakewell created … breeds in which every thing is omitted but what is economical.
3. Characterized by, or tending to economy; of persons; saving, thrifty; opposed to wasteful. Cf. ECONOMY 4.
1780. Burke, Sp. on Œconomical Reform, 17. An æconomical constitution is a necessary basis for an œconomical administration.
1837. Thirlwall, Greece, IV. xxxii. 228. The more economical application of the public revenue.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 259. The use of animal flesh … as a principal article of diet … is very far from being economical.
1878. Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 89. He will not work in an economical way.
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, iv. 92. Illustrative of his economical habits.
4. = ECONOMIC 5.
1833. J. H. Newman, Arians, 80. Careful ever to maintain substantial truth in our use of the economical method. Ibid. (1864), Apol., 386. She observes no half-measures, no economical reserve.
5. a. Pertaining to a dispensation; cf. ECONOMY 5 b. b. Pertaining to an organization; cf. ECONOMY 8.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 631. The Trinity … doth defende the Oiconomical state, that is, the mistery of the dispensation.
1646. Burd. Issachar, in Phenix (1708), II. 265. This Sanhedrim is Christ’s Vicegerent in his oeconomical Kingdom.
1670. Maynwaring, Vita Sana, iii. 40. The Oeconomical harmony is disturbed.
a. 1726. W. Reeve, Serm. (1729), 171. When the … Son of God had served the prophetic and priestly parts of his œconomical charge.
1817. G. S. Faber, Eight Dissertations (1845), I. 37. The economical office of the Word … is to declare the Father to his creatures.
