physics

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The branch of science that studies the properties and interactions of space, time, matter, and energy.

   Modern physics relies heavily on advanced mathematics and careful experiment.

   He switched from chemistry to physics after his first lab course.

   Note

   The name of the science was formed in the 1580s from physic. That word came through Old French fisike, "natural science, art of healing," from Greek phusikos, "natural." Healing and the study of nature once shared one word, and only later did physic keep the medicine while physics kept nature. Despite the final -s, physics takes a singular verb (how much physics is being reported). Modifiers name its branches: Newtonian, quantum, particle.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The properties and processes of a phenomenon or system considered in physical terms, especially when investigated scientifically.

   The physics of flight depends on the shape of the wing.

   Researchers modeled the physics behind the collapsing star.

   Similarmechanics

   Note

   Here the word names how one particular thing behaves rather than the discipline that studies it. It nearly always comes with the and an of-phrase: the physics of car crashes, the physics of flight. That article is the easiest test. the science itself usually stands bare (she studies physics), while this sense points at a single system's forces and motions, often when judging what is physically plausible.

3. 3
   noun

   Plural of physic.

   Note

   Only one meaning of physic can be counted, an archaic word for a medicine, especially a purgative. Its plural therefore means "medicines" or "doses," never "sciences," and it belongs to historical writing. The other old meanings of physic, the art of healing and natural philosophy, take no plural. Context separates this plural from the science: physics in this sense are swallowed, while physics the science is studied.

4. 4
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of physic.

   Note

   The verb behind this form is transitive. Someone physics a patient or a household, meaning they dose it, usually with a purgative, or more broadly cure it. The form shares its spelling with the science and with the plural for medicines, so a following object is the surest sign of the verb: the doctor physics the sick.

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