Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Italic"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Italic \I*tal"ic\, a. [L. Italicus: cf. F. italique. Cf.
{Italian}.]
1. Relating to Italy or to its people.
2. Applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters
do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; -- so
called because dedicated to the States of Italy by the
inventor, Aldus Manutius, about the year 1500.
{Italic languages}, the group or family of languages of
ancient Italy.
{Italic order} (Arch.), the composite order. See {Composite}.
{Italic school}, a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic
philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were
first promulgated.
{Italic version}. See {Itala}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Italic \I*tal"ic\, n.; pl. {Italics}. (Print.)
An Italic letter, character, or type (see {Italic}, a., 2.);
-- often in the plural; as, the Italics are the author's.
Italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis,
importance, antithesis, etc. Also, collectively, Italic
letters.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Composite \Com*pos"ite\ (?; 277), a. [L. compositus made up of
parts, p. p. of componere. See {Compound}, v. t., and cf.
{Compost}.]
1. Made up of distinct parts or elements; compounded; as, a
composite language.
Happiness, like air and water . . . is composite.
--Landor.
2. (Arch.) Belonging to a certain order which is composed of
the Ionic order grafted upon the Corinthian. It is called
also the {Roman} or the {Italic} order, and is one of the
five orders recognized by the Italian writers of the
sixteenth century. See {Capital}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
italic
adj 1: characterized by slanting characters; "italic characters"
2: of or relating to the Italic languages; "ancient Italic
dialects" [syn: {Italic}]
n 1: a style of handwriting with the letters slanting to the
right
2: a branch of the Indo-European languages of which Latin is
the chief representative [syn: {Italic}, {Italic language}]
3: a typeface with letters slanting upward to the right
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