[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being efficacious; effectiveness.
a. 1628. Preston, Serm. bef. his Majestie (1630), 44. As that which hath sinewes and efficatiousnesse in it, [differs] from that which is weake and powerlesse.
1650. Weekes, Truth’s Confl., ii. 42. The efficaciousness of the death of Christ.
1669. Bunyan, Holy Citie, 265. I come to speak to this Tree touching … the efficaciousness of its leaves.
1756. F. Blake, in Phil. Trans., LI. 2. Which multiplied by the lever a gives ma–nb for the efficaciousness of that force.
c. 1860. Wraxall, trans. R. Houdin, ii. 11. The Vermifuge Balsam, whose sovereign efficaciousness is indisputable.
