a. Obs. [f. L. ācri-s pungent (f. root ac- sharp, in ac-id, ac-ute) + -OUS, as in alacri-ous, hilari-ous, etc. The earliest adaptation of L. acris, mod. Fr. âcre, attempted in Eng. (Grew, in 1675, used the L. acris unchanged.) Superseded by the irregularly formed acrid.] = ACRID.
1675. Grew, Plants, Lect., VI. i. (1682), 281. Acris is also compounded. For first, simply Hot, it is not; because there are many Hot Bodies which are not Acria … Nor secondly, it is simply Pungent.
1682. Weekly Mem., 238. Catharticks, and whatsoever is acrious, being hurtful.
1689. in Phil. Trans., XVI. 552. In the Gout the humour likewise is of a different Nature; sometimes Acid, or Saline, and sometimes Acrious. Ibid. (1694), XVIII. 34. The Acrious Particles of which it consists.
