Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Psychic?

\Psy"chic\, Psychical \Psy"chic*al\, a. [L. psychicus, Gr. ?, fr. psychh` the soul, mind; cf. ? to blow: cf. F. psychique.] 1. Of or pertaining to the human soul, or to the living principle in man. Note: This term was formerly used to express the same idea as psychological. Recent metaphysicians, however, have employed it to mark the difference between psychh` the living principle in man, and pney^ma the rational or spiritual part of his nature. In this use, the word describes the human soul in its relation to sense, appetite, and the outer visible world, as distinguished from spiritual or rational faculties, which have to do with the supersensible world. --Heyse. 2. Of or pertaining to the mind, or its functions and diseases; mental; -- contrasted with physical. {Psychical blindness}, {Psychical deafness} (Med.), forms of nervous disease in which, while the senses of sight and hearing remain unimpaired, the mind fails to appreciate the significance of the sounds heard or the images seen. {Psychical contagion}, the transference of disease, especially of a functional nervous disease, by mere force of example. {Psychical medicine}, that department of medicine which treats of mental diseases.