a. [ad. med.L. typicālis figurative, symbolic (Thomas Aquinas, c. 1150), f. L. typicus TYPIC: see -ICAL.]
1. Of the nature of, or serving as, a type or emblem; pertaining or relating to a type or types; symbolical, emblematic.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus i. 6. (1619), 99. Were they not all typicall representations of that spirituall holines, wherin even we ought to resemble them?
1616. Bullokar, Eng. Expos., Typicall, mysticall, or that which serueth as a shadow and figure of an other thing.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 72. 319. Both the Psalmes are typicall, and prophesie of Christ, and his joyfull comming.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, York (1662), II. 230. He renewed the custome of expounding Scripture in a typicall way.
1711. Hickes, Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847), II. 188. The typical Melchisedec, the sacerdotal king of Salem.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 218. Ensanguin’d hearts, clubs typical of strife, And spades, the emblem of untimely graves.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 601. In the daily sacrifice … the lamb … was typical of the precious blood-shedding of the Lamb without spot upon the Cross.
1865. R. W. Dale, Jew. Temp., xiv. (1877), 159. The typical character of Old Testament ritualism, and of Old Testament history.
1898. C. Bell, trans. Huysman’s Cathedral, xi. 223. Samuel, in many ways typical of Christ.
2. Having the qualities of a type or specimen; serving as a representative specimen of a class or kind.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. App. 434. The facts which I have brought before you are typical facts.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 359. A perfectly normal and typical flower should possess a calyx, corolla, stamens, and carpels.
1874. Parker, Goth. Archit., I. v. 162. Exeter Cathedral is … the best typical example of the early part of this style.
1875. Fortnum, Maiolica, ix. 81. Their style would be … typical of the Valencian pottery.
1881. Froude, Short Stud. (1883), IV. II. vi. 249. Horace is a typical Roman of the intellectual sort.
b. Nat. Hist. That is the type of the genus, family, etc.
1847. Webster, Typical,… 2. In natural history, pertaining to or constituting a type.
1861. Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 192. The typical genus, Pleurotoma.
c. Path. Of a fever: = TYPIC 2.
1857. [see TYPIC 2].
1875. trans. von Ziemssen’s Cycl. Med., II. 599. Masked intermittents usually show themselves as typical neuralgia.
3. Of or pertaining to a type or representative specimen; distinctive, characteristic.
1850. McCosh, Div. Govt., II. i. (1874), 123. The normal or typical number of toes is ten,… corresponding to the typical number of the digits.
1862. Burton, Bk. Hunter (1863), 290. Hitting off the deeper and typical characteristics of Scottish life.
1891. Swinburne, Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894), 18. The typical English vices of egotism, hypocrisy, and envy.
4. Of or pertaining to printers’ type; typographical. Now rare or Obs.
1770. G. Faulkner, in Abp. Boulter’s Lett., I. p. vii. I have … corrected some typical errors that are in the London Edition.
1822. Blackw. Mag., XI. 7. Should you ever descend from your correctorship of typical errata.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, xliv. (1839), VI. 87. Numerous typical errors which sprang of necessity from the author’s inability to correct any proof sheets.
Hence Typicality = TYPICALNESS.
1863. H. James, Substance & Shadow, 222. Such men … have spurned the empty typicality of the church.
1890. W. Whitman, in Pall Mall G., 26 Aug., 7/2. If America is only for the rule and fashion and small typicality of other lands (the rule of the état-major) it is not the land I take it for.
1900. Speaker, 22 Dec., 317/2. The propriety, justice and typicality of the picture.
