adj. hist. 1 of or relating to Ptolemy, a 2nd-c. Alexandrian astronomer, or his theories. 2 of or relating to the Ptolemies, Macedonian rulers of Egypt from the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) to the death of Cleopatra (30 BC). Ptolemaic system the theory that the earth is the stationary centre of the Universe (cf. COPERNICAN SYSTEM).
[ L Ptolemaeus f. Gk Ptolemaios ]