a. [f. as prec. + -AL.]
† 1. Of the nature of a gloss; explanatory. Const. of, to. Obs.
a. 1623. W. Pemble, Exp. Zachary (1629), 115. This Exegeticall interpretation of this place sounds harshly.
1642. W. Price, Serm., 32. The one verse is exegeticall to the other.
1666. J. Smith, Old Age (ed. 2), 135. Breath, and life, and soul, and spirit, are synonymous, and often made exegetical one of another.
1721. Wodrow Corr. (1843), II. 553. I take this proposition to be exegetical.
2. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of exegesis, exposition or interpretation; esp. of the Scriptures; expository. Exegetical theology: that branch of theological learning which deals with the interpretation of the Scriptures and the subjects therewith connected; = Exegetics.
1838–9. Hallam, Hist. Lit. (1864), IV. ii. IV. 57. In the … exegetical theology, the English divines had already taken a conspicuous station.
1844. Stanley, Arnold (1858), I. iii. 148. Dogmatical instruction … conveyed … in a practical or exegetical shape.
1862. H. J. Rose, in Replies to Ess. & Rev., 120. He has attributed to Jerome exegetical absurdities.
3. Of or pertaining to exegetics.
1884. Nonconf. & Indep., 14 Feb., 157/1. Exegetical study is not new to him.
