[f. adj. alimentive (not cited) + -NESS. Cf. the more analogical ALIMENTATIVE, and mod.Fr. alimentivité.]
The instinct that impels an animal to seek food, to which some have assigned a special ‘organ’ in the brain.
1825. Combe, Syst. Phrenol. (ed. 5), I. 280. Dr. Hoppe considers that the organ of Alimentiveness is likewise the organ of the sense of taste.
1845. Vestig. Creat. (ed. 3), 327. The alimentiveness of such animals as the dog … can be pampered or educated up to a kind of epicurism.
