[f. L. congest-, ppl. stem of conger-ĕre to carry together, collect, heap up, etc. (whence also the freq. congestāre).]
† 1. trans. To bring or gather together, to collect; to heap up, to mass. Obs.
1538. Leland, Itin., I. p. xxi. The Writers, whose Lyves I have congestid ynto foure Bokes.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheom., II. ii. § 5 (1622), 205. He had congested and amassed together such infinite monies.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1679), 28. The leaves of oak abundantly congested on snow, preserves it.
1667. H. More, Div. Dial., IV. xxxii. (1713), 382. If all were congested together out of History touching that Church.
1758. R. Brookes, Pract. Physic (ed. 3), II. 270. These diseases generally arise from a viscid Serum or Chyle congested in the Mesentery, and which obstructs its Glands.
2. refl. and intr. To gather together; to accumulate to excess, to become congested.
1859. I. Taylor, Logic in Theol., 247. The secularism of the present time … congests itself … into a proposal of this sort.
1883. Pall Mall G., 30 March, 2/1. If capital is frightened away from Parisian house speculations for a time, it will congest somewhere else.
3. trans. To affect with congestion; to produce congestion in. Chiefly in passive: see next 2.
