a. and sb. Forms: 4 antartyk, 4–7 ik(e, -ick(e, 6 -ique, antiartick, 6–8 antartic, -arctique, 7–8 antarctick(e, (7 anartic), 6– antarctic. [a. OFr. antartique (= Pr. antartic, It. antartico), ad. L. antartic-us, -arctic-us, a. Gr. ἀνταρκτικ-ός opposite to the north, f. ἀντί against, opposite + ἀρκτικ-ός of the Bear, northern, f. ἄρκτος bear, the constellation of the Bear. The orig. Eng., phonetically modified by passage through Romance, has, like mod.Fr. antarctique, been since conformed to the Gr. spelling..]
A. adj.
1. Opposite to the arctic; pertaining to the south polar regions; southern. Antarctic Pole, the South pole of earth or heavens; Antarctic Circle, the parallel of 66° 32′ South, which separates the South Temperate and South Frigid Zones.
1366. Maundev., xvii. 181. In Lybye men seen first the sterre antartyk.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 25. Than is the pol antartik bynethe the Orisonte.
1556. Recorde, Cast. Knowl., 27. The Antartike circle is equall and equidistant to the Arctike circle.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., iv. Introd. 433. The Pole Antartique, that is to say, the South Pole.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 130. Canopus, a goodly great and bright star about the pole Antarcticke.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., Addr., From the Anartic to the Artic skie.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. 1711, 38/2. Antartick parrots, Æthiopian plumes.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer., I. 453. It is probable that an open sea stretches to the Antartic pole.
1881. Hooker, in Nature, No. 619. 447. There is no Antarctic flora except a few lichens and sea-weeds.
† 2. fig. Directly opposite, contradictory, antipodean. Obs.
1644. Cleveland, Gen. Poems (1677), 129. My Wit shall be on what side Heaven you please, provided it ever be Antarctick to yours.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, II. VIII. 362. So strange an alteration in them both, and so antartick to those good dispositions betwixt them.
a. 1711. Ken, Christophil, Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 501. Antarctick Wills in me for Empire vy’d; My Rational to Heav’n alone inclin’d, My Sensual with the World and Satan join’d.
B. sb. [The adj. used ellipt.]
1. The south pole, or the regions adjacent.
1366. Maundev., xvii. 182. Thei that ben toward the antartyk.
1596. Fitz-Geffrey, Drake (1881), 20. From th’ Artique to th’ Antartique famosed.
1662. H. More, Enthus. Tri. (1712), 31. The Axle-tree of the Antarctick.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 620. Far into the deep Towards the Antarctic.
† 2. fig. Obs. rare.
c. 1640. Jackson, in Southey, Commonpl. Bk., Ser. II. (1849), 77. Antarcticks they are, and think they can never be far enough from the North Pole, until they run from it into the South Pole, and pitch their habitation in terrâ incognitâ, in a world and church unknown to the ancients.
† C. Antarctic it. Obs. [f. the sb.; cf. lord it, tree it.] To go to the opposite extreme.
1647. Ward, Simp. Cobler, 47. If it [Majestas Imperii] extends itself beyond its due Artique … Salus Populi must Antartique it, or else the world will be Excentrick.
