a. Also 6 -it-. [ad. L. trōglodytic-us, a. Gr. τρωγλοδυτικός, f. τρωγλοδύτης: see prec. and -IC.]
1. Inhabited or frequented by troglodytes; pertaining to or characteristic of a troglodyte.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xi. 122 b. The part of this Arabia bordering vpon Ethyopia by the auncients called Trogloditick.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 36. Upon the Æthiopick or Trogloditick shoar.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., I. 313. In the deep rocky valley of Ispica, are cliffs cut out into numerous habitations…. This curious Troglodytic city, still occupied by a few peasants.
1874. Withrow, Catacombs of Rome (1877), 152. So habituated did he become to this troglodytic existence.
2. Having the habits of a troglodyte; cave-dwelling.
1676. Evelyn, in Aubrey’s Nat. Hist. Surrey (1719), I. Pref. 8. In the sandy Banks about Albury, do breed the Troglodytic Martines, who make their Boroughs in the Earth.
1833–4. J. Phillips, Geol., in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VI. 698/2. Many parts of the Mediterranean shores were anciently possessed by Troglodytic nations.
1894. Windle, Tyson’s Philol. Ess. Pygmies, Introd. I. 21. These tribes … are said to be pigmy in stature, troglodytic, and still in the Stone Age.
3. Resembling a troglodyte; of a degraded type like the cave-dwellers; also fig. not interested in or conversant with affairs.
1871. J. A. Symonds, in Life (1895), II. 77. Uttering … these little bat squeaks of a Troglodytic creature.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, ii. (ed. 2), 25. God bless me, the man seems hardly human! Something troglodytic…?
1910. Blackw. Mag., Feb., 169/2. A respectable troglodytic peer.
So Troglodytical a.
1841. T. A. Trollope, Western France, I. ix. 164. The whole [calcareous bank] … is hollowed out into a vast number of … troglodytical habitations.
