a. and sb. Forms: 4 erratike, -tyk, 6 erratik, -tycke, 7 erratique, 7–8 erratick(e, 6– erratic. [ad. L. errātic-us, f. errāre to wander, ERR. Cf. Fr. erratique.]
A. Wandering; prone to wander.
1. First used in certain special applications:
† a. Erratic star: a planet. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 1824. He saw with full avisement The erratike sterres, herkening armonie.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. i. 70. The seuene name couthe planetes, that ben cleped of clerkes sterres erratiks.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. (1873), 47. Cosmaghraphie … sal declair the mouyng … of the sternis fixt, and sternis erratic.
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 187/2. The Erratick [Stars] are seven.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 32. If … these … stones related to the seven erratic bodies in our spheres [i.e., the planets].
b. Said of pains, or diseases that are not fixed, but move from one part to another, as gout, rheumatism, etc.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, cxlviii. 54. The Erratycke and commyxt fever.
1651. Biggs, New Disp., 178. Materiall cause of all erratick pains.
1725. N. Robinson, Th. Physick, 154. Costiveness, succeeded with a slow Erratic Fever.
1748. trans. Vegetius’ Distemp. Horses, 12. This Ailment, because it is erratick, all of a sudden removes to the other foot.
† c. Erratic Poppy: transl. L. papaver erraticum (Pliny), identified by Eng. writers with the Wild or Corn Poppy (Papaver Rhœas).
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 193. Endive, roses, and erratick poppies.
1672. Jordan, London Triumph., in Heath, Grocers’ Comp. (1869), 494. A wreath about her head, consisting of variety of grain … intermingled with … erratick Poppies.
† 2. Wandering from place to place; vagrant; nomadic. Obs.; shading off into 4.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Erratique, that wanders or creeps this way and that way.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XII. 74. Through the vast waves the dreadful wonders move, Hence named Erratic by the gods above.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 141, ¶ 10. When fortune did not favour my erratick industry, I gleaned jests at home.
1757. Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. 1826, X. 539. This erratick justice [when the courts travelled with the kings] must have been productive of infinite inconvenience to the litigants.
1808. Pike, Sources Mississ., II. (1810), 175. Those savages although erratic, must remain long enough in one position to cultivate this grain.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., Introd. No entreaty could induce him to alter his erratic way of life.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pagan Idol., II. 220. At this period Delos was supposed to have floated in an erratic state on the surface of the waters.
b. Biol.
1857. Wood, Com. Obj. Sea-shore, 99. They are rather migratory in their habits, but not erratic, for they seem to go over the same course week after week.
1871. T. R. Jones, Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4), 286. The first period of their existence, during which they lead an erratic life, then closes.
3. Erratic blocks, boulders, in Geol.: stray masses of rock, foreign to the surrounding strata, that have been transported from their original site, apparently by glacial action.
1830. J. Phillips, Treat. Geol., I. 267 (Humble). The magnitude of the transported rocks is such as to deserve the title of erratic blocks.
1849. Murchison, Siluria, i. (1867), 19. To the unskilled eye Russia presents only monotonous undulations, chiefly covered by mud, sand, and erratic blocks.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., xii. (1873), 330. Erratic boulders and scored rocks plainly reveal a former cold period.
1871. Tyndall, Fragm. Sc. (ed. 6), I. viii. 270. We crossed … Creag Dhubh, and examined the erratic blocks upon its sides.
4. Irregular or uncertain in movement; having no fixed course.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), II. xlvii. 97. My erratic wanderings.
1854. Moseley, Astron., lxxviii. (ed. 4), 218. The attraction of Jupiter … upon this erratic comet.
1879. G. W. Cable, Old Creole Days, 150. Short remnants of the wind now and then came down the narrow street in erratic puffs.
5. Irregular or eccentric in conduct, habit or opinion.
1841. Disraeli, Amen. Lit. (1867), 623. The genius of Dee was as erratic as the course of life he shortly fell into.
1876. C. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond. (ed. 2), 23. To gather up those erratic spirits that now stand aloof from any religious school.
1885. Miss Braddon, Wyllard’s Weird, I. 17. He did not appear at luncheon, but … he is always erratic.
B. sb.
1. An erratic person: † a. A vagabond (obs.). b. One who is eccentric in modes of action, etc.
1623. Cockeram, Erraticks, a Rogue.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. II. iii. 145. Euripides calls the Bacchick Priests … Erraticks, or wanderers.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pagan Idol., III. 340. The canonized erratic vouchsafed to inform Eadmer, that he disapproved of returning to his old station.
1835. Fraser’s Mag., XII. 274. It is … only by following the erratics through their concentric courses that we can trace out the manifold ways and vices of man.
† 2. An erratic star, a planet. Obs. rare.
1714. Derham, Astro-Theol., II. ii. (1769), 74. Our Sun doth [warm] the erraticks encompassing it.
3. Geol. An erratic block.
1849. Murchison, Siluria, xx. 505. The huge erratics of the later cold period.
1882. Dawkins, in Nature, XXVI. 436. Icebergs, melting as they passed southwards, deposited … erratics.
b. Comb.
1881. G. M. Dawson, in Nature, XXIII. 281. The drift-covered and erratic-strewn character of the country.
