[ad. L. crassitūdo, f. crassus CRASS a.]
† 1. Thickness (of dimension). Obs.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., IV. 429. Of the clave Is best an handful greet in crassitude … And cubital let make her longitude.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 93/1. Spreade this foresayed on that peece of cloth, the crassitude of the back of a knife.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 222. Try also the difference in Sound of several Crassitudes of Hard bodies percussed.
1630. T. Westcote, Devon. (1845), 90. A stone … not five feet in length and much less in crassitude.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 60. The Longitude, Latitude, and Crassitude of Ground-plates.
† b. Solid content, volume. Obs. rare.
1571. Digges, Pantom., III. i. Q j. Multiplye the length with the bredth, and the Product in the thicknesse, so haue ye the Content or Crassitude.
† 2. Thickness (of consistency); density; coarseness (of physical constitution). Obs.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Crassitude, fa[t]nes or thicknesse.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 773. The Dead Sea … is of that Crassitude, as Living Bodies … cast into it, have been born up, and not sunk.
1653. H. More, Conject. Cabbal. (1713), 189. A mere Vacuum … no crassitude any where.
1822. Good, Study Med. (1834), IV. 464. A … case … in which the same crassitude was found in the skin of an infant.
3. The state or quality of being crass: a. Coarseness, grossness (of ignorance, etc.); b. Gross ignorance or stupidity, excessive dullness of intellect, obtuseness, ‘density’; an instance of this.
1679. G. R., trans. Boyatuau’s Theat. World, II. 318. The Crasitude of Apprehension of our Senses.
1824. Landor, Imag. Conv., xvii. Wks. 1846, I. 108/2. Bonaparte, in the crassitude of his ignorance.
1865. M. Collins, in Dublin Univ. Mag., LXV. 32/1. They … are not panicstricken by … Colenso’s crassitudes. Ibid. (1871), Mrq. & Merch., II. x. 292. Amy, not being afflicted with crassitude, soon did her work admirably.
