physical

• physickal (obsolete)

Borrowed from Late Latin physicālis, from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φυσικός (phusikós, “natural; physical”), from φύσις (phúsis, “origin, birth; nature, quality; form, shape; type, kind”), from φῠ́ω (phúō, “grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear, become, rise up”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪzɪkəl/

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physical (comparative more physical, superlative most physical)

1. Of medicine.
   1. (obsolete) Pertaining to the field of medicine; medical. [15th–19th c.]
   2. (obsolete) That practises medicine; pertaining to doctors, physicianly. [18th c.]
      • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary: A Fiction‎:

        Her father was thrown from his horse, when his blood was in a very inflammatory state, and the bruises were very dangerous; his recovery was not expected by the physical tribe.

   3. (obsolete) Medicinal; good for the health, curative, therapeutic. [16th–19th c.]
      • 1579, Thomas North, translating Pliny, Parallel Lives:

        Phisicall [translating φαρμακώδεις (pharmakṓdeis)] herbes, as Helleborum, Lingewort, or Beares foote.

      • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

        Is Brutus sick? and is it physical / To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours / Of the dank morning?

2. Of matter and nature.
   1. Pertaining to the world as understood through the senses rather than the mind; tangible, concrete; real. Having to do with the material world. [from 16th c.]
      • 1848, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy: With Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], →OCLC:

        Labour, then, in the physical world, is […] employed in putting objects in motion.

      • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

        In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

      It's not so much a physical place as a state of mind.

   2. In accordance with the laws of nature; now specifically, pertaining to physics. [from 16th c.]
      • 2012 January, Michael Riordan, “Tackling Infinity”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 30 April 2013, page 86:

        Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains.

      The substance has a number of interesting physical properties.

   3. Denoting a map showing natural features of the landscape (compare political). [from 18th c.]
3. Of the human body.
   1. Having to do with the body as opposed to the mind; corporeal, bodily. [from 18th c.]

      Are you feeling any physical effects?

      • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 1, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

        A society sunk in ignorance, and ruled by mere physical force.

   2. Sexual, carnal. [from 18th c.]
   3. Involving bodily force or contact; vigorous, aggressive. [from 20th c.]

      This team plays a very physical game, so watch out.

• mental, psychical, psychological, spiritual; having to do with the mind or spirit (or both) viewed as distinct from body.

physical (plural physicals)

1. Physical examination.

   Synonyms: checkup, check-up

   How long has it been since your last physical?

2. (parapsychology) A physical manifestation of psychic origin, as through ectoplasmic solidification.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "I don't mind readings and clairvoyance, but the physicals do try you."