\I*on"ic\, a. [L. Ionicus, Gr. ?, fr. ? Ionia.]
1. Of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians.
2. (Arch.) Pertaining to the Ionic order of architecture, one
   of the three orders invented by the Greeks, and one of the
   five recognized by the Italian writers of the sixteenth
   century. Its distinguishing feature is a capital with
   spiral volutes. See Illust. of {Capital}.
{Ionic dialect} (Gr. Gram.), a dialect of the Greek language,
   used in Ionia. The Homeric poems are written in what is
   designated old Ionic, as distinguished from new Ionic, or
   Attic, the dialect of all cultivated Greeks in the period
   of Athenian prosperity and glory.
{Ionic foot}. (Pros.) See {Ionic}, n., 1.
{Ionic}, or {Ionian}, {mode} (Mus.), an ancient mode,
   supposed to correspond with the modern major scale of C.
{Ionic sect}, a sect of philosophers founded by Thales of
   Miletus, in Ionia. Their distinguishing tenet was, that
   water is the original principle of all things.
{Ionic type}, a kind of heavy-faced type (as that of the
   following line).
Note: This is Nonpareil Ionic.

\I*on"ic\, n.
1. (Pros.)
   (a) A foot consisting of four syllables: either two long
       and two short, -- that is, a spondee and a pyrrhic, in
       which case it is called the {greater Ionic}; or two
       short and two long, -- that is, a pyrrhic and a
       spondee, in which case it is called the {smaller
       Ionic}.
   (b) A verse or meter composed or consisting of Ionic feet.
2. The Ionic dialect; as, the Homeric Ionic.
3. (Print.) Ionic type.