Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Italic

Italic , adjective

[Latin Italicus: compare French italique. Compare Italian.]

1.
Relating to Italy or to its people.
2.
Applied especially to a kind of type in which the letters do not stand upright, but slope toward the right; -- so called because dedicated to the States of Italy by the inventor, Aldus Manutius, about the year 1500.
Collocations (4)
Italic languages , the group or family of languages of ancient Italy.
Italic order (Architecture) , the composite order. See Composite.
Italic school , a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were first promulgated.
Italic version , See Itala.

Italic ({not transcribed}) , noun

(Printing) An Italic letter, character, or type (see Italic, a., 2.); -- often in the plural; as, the Italics are the author's. Italic letters are used to distinguish words for emphasis, importance, antithesis, etc. Also, collectively, Italic letters.