costiveness en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈkɒstɪvnəs/ (UK)
Etymology
Etymology tree English costive Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English costiveness From costive + -ness.
Meanings
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(uncountable) The state or quality of being costive; constipation.
The new cases prove that in habitual costiveness or inactivity of the bowels, galvanism is a more valuable remedy, and that its effects are permanent .
January 1822, Richard Reece [editor] "Letters of a Royal Physician, on Indigestion &c. &c.", in The Monthly Gazette of Health Volume 7
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(obsolete, uncountable) Inability to express oneself; stiffness.
a reverend disputant of the same coftiveness in public elocution with myself
1792, Gilbert Wakefield, Memoirs of the Life of Gilbert Wakefield: