Also 5–6 viscosite, 6 -tye, 6–7 -tie. [a. OF. viscosite (F. viscosité) or ad. med.L. viscōsitās, f. L. viscōs-us viscous: see -ITY. So It. viscosità, Sp. viscosidad, Pg. -idade.]
1. The quality or fact of being viscous; viscidity.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 65. Bole with his drynes and viscosite consumiþ þe moistenes.
c. 1530. Judic. Urines, III. vi. 50 b. Suche maner of froth sheweth alway more viscosite … of humours in ye body, than doyth ony other maner of froth.
1582. Hester, Secr. Phiorav., III. iv. 9. It taketh awaie the viscositie in the Stomacke, and openeth the powres.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 80. The Perch is … a little inferiour…, by reason of some viscosity in it.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., II. (1682), 140. That liquor is very thin, and hath no viscosity to resist the pervading body.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, I. ix. 31. Rarity is nothing but a Privation of Density,… Friability of Viscosity.
1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, III. iv. (1734), 304. The phlegm in the Glands … is nothing but the Viscosity of the Serum of the Blood.
1771. T. Percival, Ess. (1777), I. 190. To dissolve a general lentor and viscosity of the whole mass of fluids.
1821. W. P. C. Barton, Flora N. Amer., I. 65. The extreme viscosity of its pubescence, has caused it to receive the specific name it bears.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 245. The resistances due to the viscosity of the blood in the arteries.
fig. 1662. M. W., Marriage-Broaker, V. i. So I, by my viscosity, Labouring for life in love-lime [am] drown’d in Cupid’s galli-pot.
1902. Spectator, 29 Nov., 825/1. Vehicular traffic … will … block itself from its inherent viscosity.
attrib. 1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 461. The determination of the viscosity coefficient of the blood.
b. Magnetic viscosity, tendency on the part of a magnetic medium to retard the magnetizing force.
1892. Electrical Engineer, 16 Sept., 287/1. Up to the frequency tried—i.e., about 125 per second—there is no sign of magnetic viscosity; the magnetic cycle is unaffected [etc.].
2. A viscous substance; a collection of viscous matter. Cf. VISCIDITY 2.
1545. Raynald, Byrth Mankynde, 56. Linesede oyle, or oyle of fenegreke, or the viscosite of holioke, and suche other.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 27 b/2. When the stomacke is burthened with anye cruditye of vndigested meat or drincke, or with anye other viscositye whatsoever.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 80. As is observable in drops of syrup, oyle and seminall viscosities.
1651. French, Distill., v. 143. It openeth obstructions, and purgeth viscosities of the stomack and bowells.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 297. These Viscosities depend on Heat.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., I. 493. The sand … has, by the means of a calcareous viscosity infiltrated by the sea, become so hard, as to become stone.
