costiveness

English

Etymology

From costive +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒstɪvnəs/

Noun

costiveness (uncountable)

1. The state or quality of being costive; constipation.
   • January 1822, Richard Reece [editor] "Letters of a Royal Physician, on Indigestion &c. &c.", in The Monthly Gazette of Health Volume 7

     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 .

2. (obsolete) Inability to express oneself; stiffness.
   • 1792, Gilbert Wakefield, Memoirs of the Life of Gilbert Wakefield:

     a reverend disputant of the same coftiveness in public elocution with myself