From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
historic \his*tor"ic\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]k), historical \his*tor"ic*al\ (h[i^]s*t[o^]r"[i^]*kal), adjective [L. historicus, Gr. "istoriko's: cf. F. historique. See {History}.] Of or pertaining to history, or the record of past events; as, an historical poem; the historic page. -- {His*tor"ic*al*ness}, noun -- {His*to*ric"i*ty}, noun
There warriors frowning in historic brass. --Pope.
2. having once lived, existed, or taken place in the real world; -- contrasted with {legendary}; as, the historical Jesus; doubt that a historical Camelot every existed; actual historical events. [WordNet 1.5]
3. Belonging to the past; as, historical (or historic) times; a historical character. [WordNet 1.5]
4. Within the period of time recorded in written documents; as, within historic times. Opposite of {prehistoric}.
Syn: diachronic. [WordNet 1.5]
5. (Linguistics) Same as {diachronic}. {synchronic} [WordNet 1.5]
{Historical painting}, that branch of painting which represents the events of history.
{Historical sense}, that meaning of a passage which is deduced from the circumstances of time, place, etc., under which it was written.
{The historic sense}, the capacity to conceive and represent the unity and significance of a past era or age.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: belonging to the past; of what is important or famous in the past; "historic victories"; "historical (or historic) times"; "a historical character" [syn: {historical}]
2: important in history; "the historic first voyage to outer space"
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