[pl. of SYMBOLIC used subst. (see -ics, -IC 2), chiefly after G. symbolik or F. symbolique.]

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  † 1.  The use of written symbols, as in mathematics. Obs.

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1657.  Hobbes, Absurd Geom., Wks. 1845, VII. 379. The best masters of symbolics.

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  2.  The study of creeds and confessions of faith, as a branch of theology.

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1847.  Webster, Symbolics, the science of creeds.

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1885.  Schaff, Christ & Chr., 5. The new name of Symbolics, which includes Irenics as well as Polemics. Symbolics is the science of symbols or creeds. It is comparative dogmatics.

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1907.  C. G. McCrie, Confessions Ch. Scot., v. 209. Professor Philip Schaff … the greatest Protestant authority on Symbolics, sets forth the uses of creeds in four particulars.

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  3.  The study of symbols, or of symbolic rites and ceremonies, as a branch of anthropology.

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1850.  Ogilvie, Symbolics, the name given by the Germans to the study of the symbols and mysterious rites of antiquity.

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