excrescency

English

Etymology

From excrescent +‎ -cy.

Noun

excrescency (plural excrescencies)

1. An excrescent state or condition; the quality or fact of growing out of something; abnormal or excessive development
2. (obsolete) An exuberant outburst; an extravagance.
3. (obsolete) An excrescence, and excrescent growth; an outgrowth.
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, section XVIII:

     And having enquir'd into the History of Cork, I find it reckoned as an excrescency of the bark of a certain Tree […].

4. (obsolete) An abnormal, morbid, or unsightly outgrowth.

Related terms

• excrescence
• excrescent

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “excrescency”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.