a. and sb. Also 6 -icke, 7–8 -ick. [ad. L. tragic-us, a. Gr. τραγικ-ός of or pertaining to tragedy, f. τράγ-ος goat: see -IC; but in sense associated with τραγῳδία TRAGEDY. Cf. F. tragique.] A. adj.
1. Of, pertaining, or proper to tragedy as a branch of the drama; of the nature of tragedy; composing, or acting in, tragedy: opp. to COMIC a. 1.
1563. Mirr. Mag., Collingbourne, xv. Witnes theyr Satyr sharpe, and tragicke playes.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 3. Yclad in costly garments fit for tragicke Stage.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Horace’s Art Poetry, 122. The comic matter will not be exprest In tragic verse.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 315, ¶ 10. The ancient Tragick writers.
1788. Fitzpatrick, Prol. Sheridan’s ‘Critic.’ The tragic Queen to please a tasteless crowd, Has learnt to bellow, rant, and roar so loud.
1827. Buckham’s Theatre Grks. (ed. 2), Pref. 6. The … Tragic and Comic metres.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, III. xviii. 79. One of these exhibitions commonly followed each tragic performance, and it was always furnished by the tragic poet himself.
† b. Tragic-comedy: = TRAGI-COMEDY. Obs.
1637. Mabbe (title), The Spanish Bawd, represented in Celestina: or, The Tragicke-Comedy of Calisto and Melibea.
c. 1650. Denham, Old Age, 664. On the world’s stage, when our applause grows high For acting here life’s tragic-comedy.
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., II. viii. § 3. All might prove but a Tragick-Comedy.
c. Befitting, or having the style of, tragedy: = TRAGICAL 2.
1684. Winstanley, Eng. Worthies, Shaks., 345. Never any exprest a more lofty and Tragick height.
1708. Rowe, Royal Convert, III. i.
| Bid ’em be swift, and dress their bloody Altars | |
| With ev’ry Circumstance of Tragick Pomp. |
1837. Lockhart, Scott, xix., note. Her [Mrs. Siddons’] tragic exclamation to a footboy during a dinner,… ‘You’ve brought me water, boy, I asked for beer.’
1888. A. K. Green, Behind Closed Doors, vi. He wasn’t tragic, not a bit of it.
2. Resembling tragedy in respect of its matter; relating to or expressing fatal or dreadful events; connected with or excited by such events; sorrowful, sad, melancholy, gloomy; = TRAGICAL a. 1.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. vi. 28. My brest can better brooke thy Daggers point, Then can my eares that Tragicke History.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 6. I now must change Those Notes to Tragic.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Abbé Conti, 31 July. The tragic story that you are well acquainted with.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 156, ¶ 10. That the tragick and comick affections have been moved alternately with equal force.
a. 1780. Harris, Philol. Enquiries, Wks. (1841), 430. That pity and terror are the true tragic passions; that they truly bear that name, and are necessarily diffused through every fable truly tragic.
1819. Keats, Isabella, xxxi. Into her heart a throng Of higher occupants, a richer zest, Came tragic.
3. Resembling the action or conclusion of a tragedy; characterized by or involving ‘tragedy’ in real life; calamitous, disastrous, terrible, fatal. (In quot. 1876, Suffering calamity, extremely unhappy or unfortunate.)
1545. Joye, Exp. Dan. viii. 129 b. Noble valeant princes … haue there bene, which at last … haue had a miserable tragik ende.
1639. N. N., trans. Du Bosq’s Compl. Woman, II. 80. The Tragick effects of this levity.
1850. Carlyle, Latter-d. Pamph., v. (1872), 181. In these tragic days.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 294. The tragic fate of many bold men.
1876. L. Stephen, Eng. Th. 18th C., II. 372. Swift … is the most tragic figure in our literature. Beside the deep agony of his soul, all other suffering … is pale and colourless.
1907. Verney Mem., I. 98. Throughout his short life to its tragic close.
4. Comb.: (a) expressing combination of tragic with some other quality, as tragic-comical, -humorous, -ironic; (b) parasynthetic, as tragic-fated.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R., Mountjoy (1855), 47. Whenever my father looked me in the face, it was with such a tragic-comical leer.
1902. Monkshood & Gamble, R. Kipling, 155. Some side scene … of the great tragic-ironic.
1906. Daily Chron., 13 March, 3/4. The punishing, in a tragic-humorous manner, of a rascally set of owners. Ibid. (1908), 19 Nov., 3/2. At the time of the tragic-fated Struensee.
B. sb. 1. a. A tragic actor: = TRAGEDIAN 2.
1587. Mirr. Mag., Ferrex, i. Complayne I may with tragiques on ye stage.
1837. Thackeray, Ravenswing, vi. ‘That he is,’ said Canterfield, the first tragic.
b. A tragic poet or author: = TRAGEDIAN 1.
1594. R. Ashley, trans. Lays le Roy, 69. There hath bin a great companie of Tragicks, Comicks [etc.].
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. ii. § 5 (1622), 203. Whereof two Tragicks haue giuen vs two notable instances.
1737. Savage, Public Spirit, 7. With lib’ral Light the Tragic charms the Age.
1827. Buckham’s Theatre Grks. (ed. 2), Pref. 5. To give the student an idea of the manner in which he is expected to read the Tragics.
2. A tragic poem or drama, a tragedy. ? Obs.
c. 1720. Prior, Written in Mezeray’s Hist. France, 19. The man in graver tragick known.
17[?]. The Link, in Dodsley, Coll. Poems (1782), IV. 126. In epics and tragics.
3. fig. † Tragic fate (obs.); a tragic event, a disaster.
1689. Kirkton, Hist. Ch. Scot., VIII. (1817), 310. This was her miserable tragick.
1857. Clough, Poems, etc. (1869), I. 113. Whatever comes of it—pain and grief, suicide and murder, all the tragics you can think of.
4. quasi-sb. The tragic: that which is tragic; the tragic side of the drama, or of life; tragic style or manner.
1872. Morley, Voltaire, iii. (1886), 132. Sometimes they failed in reaching the tragic, through excessive fear of passing its limits.
