From Middle English relik et al., from Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae (“remains, relics”), from relinquō (“to leave behind, abandon, relinquish”), from re- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relict, derelict, and relinquish.
Meanings
(not-comparable) Pertaining to the Big Bang.
We carry out model-independent analysis to obtain the temperature at the end of inflation and the estimate for the upper bound on the Hubble parameter to circumvent the problem due to relic gravitational waves 2017, “Relic gravitational waves from quintessential inflation”, in Physical Review, volume 96, number 6, page 2:
A more realistic model must include the presence of perturbations whose extra energy can produce distortions of the relic radiation spectrum. 1977, “The relic radiation spectrum and the thermal history of the universe”, in La rivista del Nuovo cimento, volume 7, number 3, page 299:
This has been very successfully employed by measuring the relic abundances of the light elements, which were synthesized about three minutes after the beginning of the universe during big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). 2019, Wallisch, Benjamin, chapter 1, in Cosmological Probes of Light Relics, pages 1-2:
While Lasserre acknowledges that physicists are still decades away from observing a direct relic neutrino signal, he says that this work represents an important step forward in the search for the holy grail of neutrino physics. 2022 June 29, “A Step Closer to Detecting Ancient Neutrinos”, in APS (Synopsis), retrieved 02 Jun 2024:
From Middle English relik et al., from Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae (“remains, relics”), from relinquō (“to leave behind, abandon, relinquish”), from re- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relict, derelict, and relinquish.
Meanings
That which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
[T]hey know that the low social level of the mass of the race is responsible for much discrimination against it, but they also know, and the nation knows, that relentless color-prejudice is more often a cause than a result of the Negro’s degradation; they seek the abatement of this relic of barbarism, and not its systematic encouragement and pampering by all agencies of social power from the Associated Press to the Church of Christ. 1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”, in The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC, page 53:
She exerted the last relics of her wasted strength to gain a prominent position upon a ledge of the rocks behind her […] 1850, Wilkie Collins, chapter 1, in Antonina, or, The Fall of Rome, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, pages 10–11:
[…] let him not ask our pardon;
The nature of his great offence is dead,
And deeper than oblivion we do bury
The incensing relics of it […] c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Jun. & W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 6, p. 184,
It appeared, from […] the ruins scattered distantly along its skirts, to be a part of the city entirely abandoned by the modern inhabitants to the reliques of its former grandeur.
Though a Cup of cold water from ſome hand may not be without it's reward, yet ſtick not thou for Wine and Oyl for the Wounds of the Distreſſed, and treat the poor, as our Saviour did the Multitude, to the reliques of ſome baskets. c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “(please specify the section)”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC, part I, page 5:
Something old and outdated, possibly kept for sentimental reasons.
Published in 1982, the now out-of-print computer guide is a real relic, full of dozens of black-and-white pictures of large, bulky computers that you would sooner find in the Smithsonian than on anybody's desk today. 1991, U.S. News & World Report, volume 116, numbers 9-16, page 72:
[…] the imperfect light entering by their narrow casements showed bedsteads of a hundred years old; chests in oak or walnut, looking, with their strange carvings of palm branches and cherubs’ heads, like types of the Hebrew ark; rows of venerable chairs, high-backed and narrow; stools still more antiquated, on whose cushioned tops were yet apparent traces of half-effaced embroideries, wrought by fingers that for two generations had been coffin-dust. All these relics gave to the third storey of Thornfield Hall the aspect of a home of the past: a shrine of memory. 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XI, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 197:
A part of the body of a saint, or an ancient religious object, kept for veneration.
[…] the duke, in order to support their drooping hopes, ordered a procession to be made with the reliques of St. Valori, and prayers to be said for more favourable weather. 1762, David Hume, “[The Anglo-Saxons.] Chapter 3.”, in The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Accession of Henry VII, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 135:
Why ſhould onely I,
Of all the other Princes of the World,
Be caſ’d-vp, like a holy Relique? 1612–1613 (date written), John Webster, The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1623, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii:
During that time he had been living with his youthful memory of her; but she had doubtless had other and more tangible companionship. Perhaps she too had kept her memory of him as something apart; but if she had, it must have been like a relic in a small dim chapel, where there was not time to pray every day.... 1920, Edith Wharton, chapter 34, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
No Anchorite in the exstasy of devotion, ever adored a relique with more fervour than that with which I kissed this inimitable proof of my charmer’s candour, generosity and affection! 1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter 57, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume II, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 240:
A particle or entity that has existed since the Big Bang.
One of the primary targets of current and especially future cosmological observations are light thermal relics of the hot big bang. 2019, Wallisch, Benjamin, “Abstract”, in Cosmological Probes of Light Relics, page ix:
ga taise (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ko 성유물 (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · grc κειμήλιον (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · pl przeżytek (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · fr relique (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · mk рели́квија (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · fi jäännökset (that which remains) · gl reliquia (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · mi o(w)ha (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · cmn 遺跡 /遗迹 (that which remains) · it cimelio (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · is helgur dómur (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · roa-opt relica (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ba ҡомартҡы (that which remains) · es reliquia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · sk relikvia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · hu maradék (that which remains) · sga cathach (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ko 유물 (that which remains) · tl relikaryo (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · mk сувени́р (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · hu emlék (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · cs přežitek (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · be мо́шчы (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · it avanzo (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · cu мощи (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · bg мо́щи (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · fi reliikki (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · he שָׂרִיד (that which remains) · sl relikvija (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · id relik (that which remains) · ar أَثَر (that which remains) · cy crair (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ja 聖遺物 (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · enm relik (that which remains) · pl relikt (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · hy մնացորդ (that which remains) · pt relíquia (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · ro relicvă (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · hu ereklye (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · id relikui (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · hy մասունք (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · sh mȍšti (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · mk о́станка (that which remains) · cs relikt (that which remains) · cmn 聖髑 /圣髑 (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · el κειμήλιο (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · cs pozůstatek (that which remains) · tl agnos (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · nb relikvie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ca relíquia (that which remains) · ro moaște (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ja 遺跡 (that which remains) · bg сувенир (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · nb levning (that which remains) · enm relik (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · wa rilike (that which remains) · hu relikvia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · grc ἀπομεινάριον (that which remains) · bg останка (that which remains) · hy նշխար (that which remains) · es vestigio (that which remains) · fi pyhäinjäännös (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · mk рели́квија (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · wa rilike (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · de Reliquie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ru оста́нки (that which remains) · it ricordo (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · fr reliquat (that which remains) · ru рели́квия (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · mk рели́кт (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · es reliquia (that which remains) · ja 遺物 (that which remains) · vi di tích (that which remains) · id peninggalan (that which remains) · ru мо́щи (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · el απομεινάρι (that which remains) · uk мо́щі (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · tl relikaryo (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · it reliquia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · da relikvie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ca relíquia (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · eo relikvo (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · pt relíquia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · nl relikwie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ar ذَخِيرَة (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · cs relikvie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · sh мо̏шти (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · grc λείψανον (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · sh релѝквија (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · el λείψανο (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · ko 유적 (that which remains) · cmn 遺物 /遗物 (that which remains) · ba ҡомартҡы (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · pl relikwia (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · fi muistoesine (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · grc ἐνθύμιον (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · nn relikvie (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · sh relìkvija (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · mk мо́шти (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · de Relikt (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · el ενθύμιο (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · wa rilike (part of a body or an object of religious significance) · hu maradvány (that which remains) · ru рели́кт (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons) · fi muisto (old thing, possibly kept for sentimental reasons)
From Middle English relik et al., from Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae (“remains, relics”), from relinquō (“to leave behind, abandon, relinquish”), from re- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relict, derelict, and relinquish.
Meanings
(of guitars, often, transitive, uncommon) To cause (an object) to appear old or worn, to distress.
Age has become a fetish in the world of guitars where large amounts of money are paid for a specially “reliced” guitar. As one company, Relic Guitars, which offers this service claims, “The idea behind relicing a guitar is to artificially replicate the natural wear that occurs over many years […]” 2009, Trevor Pinch, David Reinecke, “Technostalgia: How old gear lives on in new music”, in Karin Bijsterveld, José van Dijck, editors, Sound Souvenirs: Audio Technologies, Memory and Cultural Practices, page 152:
He's since run his own shop, building, winding/making pickups, doing restorations and relicing guitars. 2017 January 19, “Fender® Custom Shop Commemorates 30th Anniversary Milestone With Founders Design Project Debuting At 2017 Winter NAMM”, in PR Newswire:
The whole idea of relicing an instrument is to accelerate the wear and tear that normally occurs over decades. 2012, Will Kelly, How to Build Electric Guitars, page 81: