[a. F. carnosité (14th c. in Littré, with parallel forms in Pr., Sp., It.), f. L. carnōs-us fleshy: see -ITY.]
† 1. Fleshiness; pulpiness; flesh or pulp. Obs.
1534. Elyot, Cast. Helth, I. 2. Carnositie or fleshynesse [etc.].
1601. Holland, Pliny, XV. iii. I. 431. They erre … that they suppose an Oliue the more grown it is in carnositie, to be the fuller of oile.
1657. Tomlinson, Renou’s Disp., 670. Their [Golden Apples’] carnosity is very sapid and sweet.
2. A morbid fleshy growth, a caruncle.
1559. Morwyng, Evonym., 280. If an eye be diseased with blerednes … or any swelling carnosity bred upon it.
1618. Fletcher, Chances, III. i. What’s good for a Carnosity in the bladder?
1751. Stack, in Phil. Trans., XLVII. 328. Strictures and carnosities of the urethra.
1810. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 4), V. 189. Carnosities are very difficult of cure.
† b. fig. Obs.
1613. Spelman, De non temer. Eccl. (1668), 105. Overgrown with so hard a carnosity, as it requireth strong and potent corrosives to make an entrance into them.
1689. N. Lee, Princ. Cleve, IV. i. 45. Your thoughts are swell’d with a Carnosity.
