| Ionic | a. [ L. Ionicus, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; Ionia. ] [ 1913 Webster ] 1. Of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Arch.) Pertaining to the Ionic order of architecture, one of the three orders invented by the Greeks, and one of the five recognized by the Italian writers of the sixteenth century. Its distinguishing feature is a capital with spiral volutes. See Illust. of Capital. [ 1913 Webster ]
Ionic dialect (Gr. Gram.), a dialect of the Greek language, used in Ionia. The Homeric poems are written in what is designated old Ionic, as distinguished from new Ionic, or Attic, the dialect of all cultivated Greeks in the period of Athenian prosperity and glory. --
Ionic foot. (Pros.) See Ionic, n., 1. --
Ionic mode, or
Ionian mode, (Mus.), an ancient mode, supposed to correspond with the modern major scale of C. --
Ionic sect, a sect of philosophers founded by Thales of Miletus, in Ionia. Their distinguishing tenet was, that water is the original principle of all things. --
Ionic type, a kind of heavy-faced type (as that of the following line). [ 1913 Webster ] ☞This is Nonpareil Ionic.
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| Ionic | n. 1. (Pros.) (a) A foot consisting of four syllables: either two long and two short, -- that is, a spondee and a pyrrhic, in which case it is called the greater Ionic; or two short and two long, -- that is, a pyrrhic and a spondee, in which case it is called the smaller Ionic. (b) A verse or meter composed or consisting of Ionic feet. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. The Ionic dialect; as, the Homeric Ionic. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. (Print.) Ionic type. [ 1913 Webster ] |
| ionic | a. (Chem.) Of or pertaining to ions; composed of ions, containing ions, or breaking down into ions when dissolved in a polar solvent; as, an ionic solution will conduct a current of electricity. Opposite of nonionic. [ PJC ] |
