[ad. F. friabilité: see FRIABLE and -ITY.] The quality of being friable.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 73. Codfish for whitenes of colour, and moderate hardnes, and friabilitie of substance is commended.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., IV. vi. (1695), 337. It [Gold] will immediately lose all its Colour and Weight, and perhaps Malleableness too; which, for ought I know, would be changed into a perfect Friability.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 289. In some states the particles adhere into clods; in others they recede and melt with friability.
1858. Geikie, Hist. Boulder, viii. 152–3. Such cliffs, however, merit the careful attention of the observer, for from their friability they are most easily decomposed and washed down by streams, to form new accumulations of similar soft argillaceous matter.
