† 1. Political. Obs. rare.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 228. There are a hundred twise told of the like statisticall principles and practises.
2. Of or pertaining to statistics, consisting of or founded on collections of numerical facts, esp. with reference to economic, sanitary, and vital conditions.
1787. Crit. Rev., LXIV. 188. The work [by Zimmermann] before us is properly statistical. It consists of different tables, containing a general comparative view of the forces, the government, the extent and population of the different kingdoms of Europe.
1790. Sir J. Sinclair, Lett., in Statist. Acc. Scot. (1798), XX. App. p. xix. In many parts of the Continent, more particularly in Germany, Statistical Inquiries, as they are called, have been carried to a very great extent.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 75. The most prominent moral and statistical features of the period now to be considered must not … be passed over in silence.
1871. Maxwell, Theory of Heat, xxii. 288. If however, we adopt a statistical view of the system, and distribute the molecules into groups, according to the velocity with which at a given instant they happen to be moving, we shall observe [etc.].
b. Of a writer, etc.: Dealing with statistics.
1787. Zimmermann, Polit. Surv. Europe, Pref. 5. Some respectable statistical writers.
1845. McCulloch, Literature Pol. Econ., 222. In 1832, a Statistical Department was organised in the Board of Trade for preparing, classifying, and publishing … information respecting the statistics of the United Kingdom and its dependencies, and also respecting foreign states.
¶ 3. Gram. Misused for STATIVE a. 3.
1846. D. Forbes, Hindústání Gram., 132. From the present participle is formed the compound verb called statistical, by using the masculine inflection of the participle together with some verb of motion. Ibid., 65. From the present participle are formed … Statisticals, gáte áná, ‘to come singing’; rote daurná ‘to run crying.’
