[f. prec. + -NESS.] Loose or relaxed condition (of the body, etc.).
1610. Markham, Masterp., I. xii. 33. Laxatiuenesse or loosnesse of the body is a signe of a hot liner.
1611. Cotgr., Courance, a flux, a laxatiuenesse in the bodie.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. vi. (1668), 142. It … proceedeth … from a laxativeness or looseness of milk.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Scouring-long-sought, Either by over-heating or by unwholsome Fodder, which will breed Laxativeness.
b. Looseness of tongue.
1866. Sat. Rev., 1 Sept., 254/2. Their silence is quite refreshing beside the rhetorical laxativeness of others.
