Defining "physical"

I was looking for a definition of "physical" that is more technical
than the ones one finds in ordinary language dictionaries. What I
eventually came upon is the following:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/physicalism/#9

"The theory-based conception:
A property is physical iff it either is the sort of property that
physical theory tells us about or else is a property which
metaphysically (or logically) supervenes on the sort of property that
physical theory tells us about."

"The object-based conception:
A property is physical iff it either is the sort of property required
by a complete account of the intrinsic nature of paradigmatic physical
objects and their constituents or else is a property which
metaphysically (or logically) supervenes on the sort of property
required by a complete account of the intrinsic nature of paradigmatic
physical objects and their constituents."

It seems that "physical" is much harder to define than most people
might think.

.

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