[f. next: see -ENCY.] The quality of being stringent; strictness, rigor.
1844. Kinglake, Eöthen, xxiii. He insisted on the stringency of the orders which he had received.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. 55. Twice subsequently in the course of his reign he returned back upon the subject, insisting upon it with increasing stringency.
1885. Law Jrnl., 17 Jan., 36/2. Criticisms are sometimes passed on the stringency of the English laws of evidence.
b. Of reasoning: Compulsive force, convincingness.
1864. Max Müller, Chips (1880), I. iv. 116. We see no stringency whatever in this argument.
1872. W. K. Clifford, Lect. & Ess. (1879), I. 156. As the known exactness of the uniformity became greater, the stringency of the inference increased.
c. Comm. ‘Tightness’ in the money-market.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 185. The stringency in the money-market aggravating the gloomy aspect of affairs.
1893. Westm. Gaz., 17 Oct., 6/1. In view of the money stringency at Chicago, they consider it unwise to recommend a larger distribution.
