[a. F. callosité:—L. callōsitāt-em, f. callōs-us; see CALLOUS.]
1. The condition of being callous; abnormal hardness and thickness of the skin or other tissues.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 4 b. The callositie of the Gowmes serueth some men in stead of teeth.
1671. Salmon, Syn. Med., I. l. 119. If the Flesh about the Ulcer be dry, and sensless, it becomes a callous: and that Hardness is called Callosity.
1744. Mitchell, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 108. The Thickness or Callosity of their Skins.
1831. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xii. (1833), 303. This callosity of the skin may be effected by frequently moistening it with dilute sulphuric acid.
2. concr. A callous formation, a callus; a thickened and hardened part of the skin, such as the hard lumps that arise from constant pressure or friction, or on the cicatrized surfaces of ulcers. Also applied to natural thickenings, such as those on the legs of the horse, the breast of the camel, etc.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XVI. vii. 460. Certain hard callosities like Pumish stones.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Strangury, If the Ischaria is caused by some Flesh Kernel or Callocity.
1818. Art. Preserv. Feet, 42. A simple Callosity is nothing more than a thickening of the epidermis.
1878. Tait & Stewart, Unseen Univ., v. § 165. 169. Asses … have callosities only on the inner side of the fore legs.
3. fig. A hardened state of mind or conscience; insensibility; = CALLOUSNESS 2.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., v. 28. To weep into stones are fables. Afflictions induce calosities.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, II. iii. § 7. 311. When Men cease to regard God in due measure … they are very apt to relapse into Negligence and Callosity.
1874. Farrar, Life Christ, 82. A callosity of heart, a petrifying of the moral sense.
