From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrelicrel‧ic /ˈrelɪk/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 REMAIN/BE LEFTan old object or custom that reminds people of the past or that has lived on from a past time Roman relics found in a fieldrelic of the books and photos, relics of Rob’s university days Everything in the house seemed old and untouched, like relics of an ancient time.2 RRa part of the body or clothing of a holy person which is kept after their death because it is thought to be holy
Examples from the Corpus
relic• Once viewed as a relic, continental drift and seafloor spreading evolved into the modern concept of plate tectonics.• Voters passed a bill to remove a law that is a relic of the state's racist past.• The town is a relic from California's gold rush.• It was true he had grown out of it now, but it was the beloved relic of his youth.• Like so many villages in the Mani, Vátheia is a ghostly relic.• He received it as if it were a precious relic a saint had just blessed, and folded it carefully.• The latter's relics rest on the main altar.• the sacred relics of John the Baptist• The relic reposes in a glass-fronted reliquary beneath a side altar of the same church in which it was first interred.• The relic was found in exactly the place indicated.• Civil War relics• The treaty is now a Cold War relic.relic of• Obelisks are among the least-understood relics of ancient Egypt.Origin relic (1200-1300) Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae “things left behind”, from relinquere; → RELINQUISH 