Phys'ic-al, a.
(fĭz'ik-al), a. [Gr. φυσικός, from φύσις, nature, from φύειν, to bring forth, produce; Lat. physicus, Fr. physique, O. Fr. physical, Pr. fisical, It. fisico, fисicale, Sp. físico.]
Sense 1. Pertaining to nature, as including all created existences; obeying the laws of nature; also, relating to natural or material things, as opposed to things mental, moral, spiritual, or imaginary; material; natural; as, armies and navies are the physical force of a nation; whereas wisdom, knowledge, skill, and the like, constitute moral force; a physical body or substance is a material body or substance, in distinction from spirit.
Sense 2. Pertaining to physics, or the science of nature, or to unorganized matter; treating of, or relating to, the causes and connections of natural phenomena; as, physical sciences; physical laws, and the like.
Sense 3. Pertaining to physic, or the art of medicine; resembling physic; medicinal. [Obsolescent.]
Sense 4. Perceptible through a bodily or material organization; cognizable by the senses; corporeal; external.
Physical astronomy, that part of astronomy which treats of the causes of the celestial motions, or of the connection of the laws which govern them with those which are observed at the earth's surface. — Physical education, training of the bodily organs and powers with a view to the promotion of health and vigor. — Physical geography, that branch of science which applies the principles of physics to the facts and phenomena of descriptive geography, or which treats of their causes, relations, and inter-agencies, including the diversities of surface, climate, productions, &c., the distribution of land and water, of animals, plants, minerals, &c. — Physical optics, that branch of optical science which treats of the nature of light, and of its phenomena, with the explanation of their causes. — Physical point, an indefinitely small portion of matter; a point conceived as being without extension, yet having physical properties, as weight, inertia, momentum, &c.; a material point.