a. and sb. Also 7 specifique, 7–8 -ick. [ad. med.L. specific-us, f. speci-ēs SPECIES: see -FIC. Hence also F. spécifique, It. specifico, Sp. and Pg. especifico.]
A. adj. 1. Having a special determining quality.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1912), 194. For, God no such specifique poyson hath As kills we know not how.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 72. Which sentence is … true … of all parts that naturally exist in any specifique body.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 59. Bones are valuable as a specific manure, because they contain phosphate of lime.
† b. Having the qualities of a species. Obs.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 129. Man is not at once an Individuum and a specifique Individuum.
2. Of qualities, properties, effects, etc.: Specially or peculiarly pertaining to a certain thing or class of things and constituting one of the characteristic features of this.
Specific gravity, heat: see GRAVITY 4 c, HEAT sb. 2 d.
c. 1650. Denham, Of Prudence, 16. That thou to Truth the perfect way mayst know, To thee all her specific forms I’ll show.
1665. Phil. Trans., I. 48. Plants, and other Medicinal things, that have specifique Vertues.
1713. Addison, Spect., No. 409, ¶ 5. The distinguishing Perfections, or, if I may be allowed to call them so, the Specifick Qualities of the Author whom he peruses.
1744. Berkeley, Siris, § 87. 41. The specific taint or peculiar cause of the malady.
1782. Phil. Trans., LXXII. 196. The different portions of elementary fire contained in such substance, and absorbed by it,… and hence called its specific fire.
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 150, note. The specific operation of mercury on the constitution.
1837. P. Keith, Bot. Lex., 139. The primitive and specific molecule proper to each organ pre-exists already in the infant embryo.
1863. E. V. Neale, Anal. Th. & Nat., 36. Between these unities of quantity there exist relations independent of their specific magnitudes.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 503. Plants, in which the demarcation of the annual rings is constantly absent as a specific peculiarity.
b. Specific difference: see DIFFERENCE sb. 4 c.
1649. Bulwer, Pathomyot., I. vi. 32. Al actions equally proceed from the Soul, but receive their Specifique difference from the instruments.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius’ Logic, II. ii. 6. A perfect Definition consists of the next Genus and Specifick Difference.
1777. Priestley, Matt. & Spir. (1782), I. xxii. 282. It was necessary to find some specific difference between them.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, iii. (1904), 82. Where there is no specific difference, as between round and square, all definition must be more or less arbitrary.
1861. Mill, Utilit., v. (1874), 74. This feature in the case … constitutes the specific difference between justice, and generosity.
c. Peculiar to, characteristic of, something.
1667. Waterhouse, Fire Lond., 9. The mediation of concurring circumstances specifique to that Issue.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Greece, 251. Their style … is specific to Italy in the middle of the fifteenth century.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 519. Ulcers in the stomach specific of these affections may arise.
3. a. Med. Of remedies, etc.: Specially or exclusively efficacious for, or acting upon, a particular ailment or part of the body.
1677. W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Chym., I. xvi. 195. It is esteemed to be specifick for malignant Diseases.
1680–90. Temple, Ess. Health & Long Life, Wks. 1720, I. 285. Garlick … I believe is … a Specifick Remedy of the Gout.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. s.v., Physitians mention in their Books three kinds of Specifick Medicines.
1778. R. James, Diss. Fevers (ed. 8), 80. Little can be said in favour of specific medicines, but what is equally applicable to specific methods of cure.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 795. The internal administration of specific remedies.
b. Path. Of a distinct or characteristic kind.
1804. Abernethy, Surg. Obs., 166. We must not impute the occurrence of these peculiar sores to mere irritability, but to some specific contagion.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xx. 234. The specific irritation of the skin, termed scabies.
1876. trans. Wagner’s Gen. Pathol., 260. Specific-pus, is not distinguished histologically and chemically from common pus.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 150. Specific peribronchitis of the trachea and bronchi. Ibid. (1899), VII. 685. Some of these lesions are ‘specific’ in the sense of being characteristic of syphilis.
4. a. Precise or exact in respect of fulfilment, conditions or terms; definite, explicit.
1740. J. Penn, etc. (title), Upon a Bill to compell a Specifick Execution of Articles of Agreement, entred into between the Partys for setling the Boundarys of the Province of Pensilvania.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 116. This may … be effected by a specific delivery or restoration of the subject-matter in dispute to the legal owner.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, V. ii. 317. We do not as yet know the specific commandments of the moral law.
1862. Trollope, Orley F., ii. She had been specific in her requests, urging him … to settle Orley Farm upon her own boy.
1871. Markby, Elem. Law, § 109. A command must by its very nature be specific.
b. Exactly named or indicated, or capable of being so; precise, particular.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 8. What it is that gave a man an exclusive right to retain … that specific land.
1779. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 264. A specific misconduct, brought home to a particular man, is always to be attended to. Ibid. (c. 1788), Charges agst. W. Hastings, Wks. 1813, XII. 370. Without a publick well-vouched account of the specifick expenditure thereof.
1828. Mackintosh, Speech Ho. Commons, Wks. 1846, III. 492. There are … two specific classes of grievances complained of by the Lower-Canadians.
1865. H. Phillips, Amer. Paper Curr., II. 68. No specific preparations had been made by the states to perform their part of the engagement.
1880. L. Stephen, Pope, iv. 103. The specific cause of the quarrel, if cause there was, has not been clearly revealed.
5. Zool. and Bot. Of or pertaining to, connected with, etc., a distinct species of animals or plants; esp. in specific character, name.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., The more accurate of the modern naturalists have … set about the reformation of the specific names of things. Ibid., But as this holds in all the genus, there can be no use made of it as a specific character.
1775. H. Rose, Elem. Bot., 302. A Plant is said to be compleatly named when it has got both the generic and specific name.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), I. p. v. Many of the Specific Characters … are entirely new.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 19. Specific names … often indicate the situation or the country where the plant is found naturally.
1866. Darwin, Orig. Spec. (ed. 4), ii. 58. Such characters of course are not of specific value.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 147. Scarcely entitled to specific rank.
1880. A. R. Wallace, Isl. Life, 359. Thus one great cause of specific modification would be wanting.
B. sb. 1. A specific remedy. (See A. 3 a.)
1661. Evelyn, Fumifugium, 8. I doe assent that both Lime and Sulphur are in some affections Specifics for the lungs.
1671. Salmon, Syn. Med., III. xxii. 427. Elder-tree … is a specific for the cure of the Dropsie.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VI. 170. Specificks for Fevers seem to have place chiefly in Agues.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, in Aliments, etc. I. 429. If there be a specifick in Aliment it is certainly Whey.
1779. Johnson, Lett. (1788), II. 64. How did you light on your specifick for the tooth-ach?
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xxvii. 351. All specifics lead to a false system of therapeutics.
1873. Spencer, Study Sociol., i. (1877), 20. Always you find among people in proportion as they are ignorant, a belief in specifics.
attrib. 1859. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxii. Her parties were the dullest in London, and gradually fell into the hands of popular preachers, Specific Doctors, raw Missionaries [etc.].
b. transf. and fig.
1662. Charleton, Myst. Vintners (1675), 192. Having found out certain Specifics as it were, to palliate the several Vices of Wines of all sorts.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 224. For all Defences and Apologies Are but Specifics t’ other Frauds and Lies.
1779. J. Moore, View Soc. Fr. (1789), I. xviii. 140. A more infallible specific against tedium and fatigue.
1841. Helps, Ess., Aids Contentm., 15. I have no intention of putting forward specifics for real afflictions, or pretending to teach refined methods for avoiding grief.
1860. Mill, Repr. Govt. (1865), 59/2. Against this evil the system of personal representation … is almost a specific.
2. A specific difference, quality, statement, subject, disease, etc.
1697. trans. Burgersdicius’ Logic, I. ii. 7. The Difference is taken from his Form.… But because incorporeal Substances have none, and the Specificks of Corporeal, even lye hid [etc.].
1757. Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1767), III. 148. The Phœnomenon … is owing to two most uncommon Specifics, in the Constitution of your Mind, and of your Body.
1874. H. W. Beecher, Lect. Preaching, Ser. III. viii. 153. Generics never take hold of men. It is specifics that take hold of them.
1891. Daily News, 19 Oct., 6/5. Even in London Board Schools only 20,000 scholars were presented in specifics.
1893. W. R. Gowers, Dis. Nervous Syst. (ed. 2), II. 330. Acute specifics, pneumonia, and septicæmia.
