a. Obs. rare–1. [ad. Gr. ἐλπιστικός, f. ἐλπίζειν to hope.] The distinctive epithet of a sect of Greek philosophers (see quot.).
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. (1589), 286. The Elpisticke Philosophers affirmed, that nothing better maintained and preserved the life of man, than Hope.
