[f. CRISP a. + -NESS.] The state or quality of being crisp.

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c. 1440.  [see CRISPHEDE].

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1635–67.  Cowley, Davideis, III. Note 25. The … crispness of the wood.

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1799.  Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 83. The colour of the hair, its quality and its crispness.

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1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. v. An unwholesomely-forced lettuce that had lost in colour and crispness what it had gained in size.

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1885.  Bookseller, July, 662/2. The tale is told with the crispness and sparkle of this author’s popular style.

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