rubric

English

WOTD – 27 July 2008

English Wikipedia has articles on:

rubric and rubric (academic)

Wikipedia Wikipedia

From Middle English rubriche, rubrike, from Old French rubrique, from Latin rūbrīca (“red ochre”), the substance used to make red letters, from ruber (“red”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rewdʰ-.

rubric (plural rubrics)

A heading in a book highlighted in red.
A title of a category or a class.
That would fall under the rubric of things we can ignore for now.
- 2008, Chris Dodd, Senator Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill on Floor of U.S. Senate:
  And in one swoop, the Attorney General conceded to the president nearly unlimited power, just as long as he finds a lawyer willing to stuff his actions into the boundless rubric of “defending the country.”
(Christianity) The directions for a religious service, formerly printed in red letters.
- 1842, Walter Hook, Church Dictionary:
  All the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics.
An established rule or custom; a guideline.
- 1847-1848, Thomas De Quincey, "Protestantism", in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine
  Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity.
- 1782, William Cowper, “Progress of Error”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC:
  Let Comus rise Archbishop of the land;
  Let him your rubric and your feasts prescribe
(education) A set of scoring criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback.
A flourish after a signature.
Red ochre.

heading in a book highlighted in red

category or classification

established rule or custom, a guideline

printed set of scoring criteria

rubric (comparative more rubric, superlative most rubric)

Coloured or marked with red; placed in rubrics.
- 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 11, lines 210–211:
  VVhat tho' my Name ſtood rubric on the vvalls? / Or plaiſter'd poſts, vvith Claps in capitals?
Of or relating to the rubric or rubrics; rubrical.

rubric (third-person singular simple present rubrics, present participle rubricking, simple past and past participle rubricked)

(transitive) To adorn with red; to redden.
- 1681, Paul Rycaut, The Critick, translation of original by Lorenzo Gracián:
  That Cavalier who Rubricks his Executions with the Bloud he hath drawn by the instrument of Extortion from the Poor.
To organise or classify into rubrics