historic

Etymology

From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique.

adj

1. Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.
   A historic opportunity
   July 4, 1776, is a historic date. A great deal of historical research has been done on the events leading up to that day.
   The historical works of Lord Macaulay and Edward Gibbon are in and of themselves historic.
2. Old-fashioned, untouched by modernity.
   Sights are thick sown in the counties of York and Nottingham: the former is more historic. 1756 August, Horace Walpole, letter republished in Private Correspondence (1820), Vol. II, No. 1
3. (now uncommon) Synonym of historical: of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history or the past generally (See usage notes.)
   An high-pac'd Muse treading a lofty march, leades honor enchaind in an Epique pen, grac'd with the furtherance of historique Clio. 1594, John Dickenson, Arisbas, Euphues amidst his slumbers; or, Cupids iourney to hell
4. (grammar) Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.
   The historic tenses include the imperfect, the pluperfect, and the future perfect.

noun

1. (obsolete) A history, a non-fiction account of the past.
   Before the beginnyng of this historic, I haue thought good by waie of a Proeme, to introduce the wordes of an excellent writer called Lodouicus Caelius Rhodoginus. 1566, William Painter, chapter XI, in The Palace of Pleasure Beautified, volume I
2. (obsolete) A historian.