[ad. L. fluentia: see prec. and -ENCY.] The quality or state of flowing or being fluent.
† 1. Affluence, copiousness, abundance. Obs.
a. 1623. Massinger, Bondman, II. iii.
| Pisan. Thou, Gracculo, | |
| Hast fluency of language, quick conceit. |
1638. G. Sandys, Paraphr. Job xii. 16.
| Those who grow old in fluency and ease, | |
| When they from shore behold him tost on Seas, | |
| And neere his ruine. |
1657. Hawke, Killing is M., 20. Fluency in teares.
1658. Osborn, Jas. I., Wks. (1673), 511. The Indies themselves would in time want fluency to feed so immense a prodigality.
1726. Bradley, Gardening, Appendix, 559. This last Operation [Graffing] may be done when the Sap is in its highest Fluencies.
2. a. A smooth and easy flow; readiness, smoothness; esp. with regard to speech. b. Absence of rigidity; ease.
1636. Massinger, Gt. Dk. Florence, V. ii.
| Lid. You are pleased to show, sir, | |
| The fluency of your language, in advancing | |
| A subject much unworthy. |
1727. Pope, Th. Var. Subj., in Swift’s Wks. (1755), III. 404. The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to a scarcity of matter, and a scarcity of words.
1849. Lytton, Caxtons, I. v. I had learned to read with ease, and to write with some fluency, and I already began to imitate, to reproduce.
1852. Ld. Cockburn, Jeffrey, I. 363. Amidst all his fluency of thought, and all his variety of matter, a great part of the delight of his conversation arose from its moral qualities.
1878. J. W. Ebsworth, in Braithwaite’s A Strappado for the Diuell, Introduction, p. xxvii. While there is such richness of allusion to contemporary matters in his pages, that scarcely one among them fails to yield something valuable to the student of antiquity, we are apt to forget the genuine sweetness and musical fluency of his best lyrics.
3. Readiness of utterance, flow of words.
1654. Evelyn, Diary, 31 Aug. In one ile lies the famous Dr. Collins, so celebrated for his fluency in the Latin tongue.
1814. D’Israeli, Quarrels Auth. (1867), 364. Among other personalities, he indulged his satirical fluency on the scientific collectors.
1834. Macaulay, Pitt, Ess. (1854), I. 293/1. The fluency and the personal advantages of the young orator instantly caught the ear and eye of his audience.
