acrity

English

Etymology

From Latin acritas, from ācer (“sharp, pungent”) +‎ -itās.

Noun

acrity (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Sharpness, keenness or acridity.
    • 1669, Francis Bacon, The Wisdome of the Ancients, page 66:
      that is by the acrity of Prudence and severity of judgement, by whose vigor and efficacy, they see into the falsity & vanity of these errours. And by this their hatred of pravity, and good zeal to Religion, they purchase to themselves great […]
    • 1830, Augustin Pierre DUBRUNFAUT, A complete treatise on the art of Distillation ... from the French of Dubrunfaut, by J. Sheridan. To which is prefixed, the Distillers' Practical Guide, by P. Jonas. ... Fourth edition, page 308:
      The molasses of beet-roots take with them all the acrity of the root, and moreover […]
    • 1884, Adolphe Burggraeve, The New handbook of dosimetric therapeutics, pages 31, 49:
      [page 31:] […] the discharge is serous, although, indeed, it acquires sometimes an acrity which attacks the nostrils and lips. […]
      [page 49:] […] on account of the acrity of the intestinal matters.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “acrity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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