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Entry 4 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Plastic

/(plăs"tĭk)/ · Plas·tic · IPA /ˈplæstɪk/
01 a. Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator.
  1. 1.
    Having the power to give form or fashion to a mass of matter; as, the plastic hand of the Creator.
    “See plastic Nature working to his end.” — Pope.
  2. 2.
    Capable of being molded, formed, or modeled, as clay or plaster; -- used also figuratively; as, the plastic mind of a child.
  3. 3.
    Pertaining or appropriate to, or characteristic of, molding or modeling; produced by, or appearing as if produced by, molding or modeling; -- said of sculpture and the kindred arts, in distinction from painting and the graphic arts.
    “Medallions . . . fraught with the plastic beauty and grace of the palmy days of Italian art.” — J. S. Harford.
Phrases & compounds
Plastic clay — one of the beds of the Eocene period; -- so called because used in making pottery.
Plastic element — one that bears within the germs of a higher form.
Plastic exudation — an exudation thrown out upon a wounded surface and constituting the material of repair by which the process of healing is effected.
Plastic foods — See the second Note under Food.
Plastic force — See under Force.
Plastic operation — an operation in plastic surgery.
Plastic surgery — that branch of surgery which is concerned with the repair or restoration of lost, injured, or deformed parts of the body.
02 n. A substance composed predominantly of a synthetic organic high polymer capable of being cast or molded; many varieties of plastic are used …
  1. 1.
    A substance composed predominantly of a synthetic organic high polymer capable of being cast or molded; many varieties of plastic are used to produce articles of commerce (after 1900). [MW10 gives origin of word as 1905]