lubricity
(l(j)uːˈbrɪsɪtɪ)
[ad. F. lubricité or L. lūbricitās, f. lūbricus lubric.]
1. Slipperiness, smoothness; oiliness. Also in pl.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 477 The same liquor is easie to diuide into drops, and as apt again by the lubricitie thereof, to run into an humor. 1633 T. Carew Coel. Brit. (1634) 5 Hebe, through the lubricity of the pavement tumbling over the Halfe-pace. 1668 H. More Div. Dial i. ii. 179 The manifold Incompossibilities and Lubricities of Matter, that..would [not] be fit for any thing, if its shapes..were not..infinitely varied. 1784 Cowper Task v. 165 The same lubricity was found in all, And all was moist to the warm touch. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 383 The shrillness or roughness of the voice depends on the internal diameter of the glottis, its elasticity, motility, and lubricity. 1831 Syd. Smith Sp. Wks. 1859 II. 219/1 Hands, accustomed to the scented lubricity of soap. 1878 Emerson Misc., Fort. Repub. Wks. (Bohn) III. 391 In creeping out of one snake-skin into another of equal..lubricity. |
† b. spec. in Pathology. Obs.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health iii. 8 Abhorsion..maye come by ventositie and lubricite of humours in the matryx. c 1550 Lloyd Treas. Health (1585) D ij, For y⊇ lubricitie of y⊇ bowelles when the meate cometh furth vndigestyd. 1710 T. Fuller Pharm. Extemp. 225 It..roborates the Bowels, corects their Lubricity. 1755 Johnson Let. to Miss Boothby 31 Dec., A very probable remedy for indigestion and lubricity of the bowels. |
2. fig. a. ‘Slipperiness’, shiftiness; unsteadiness, instability; elusiveness. Also with pl.
| 1613 R. Cawdrey Table Alph. (ed. 3), Lubricitie, lightnesse, slipery, inconstant. c 1645 Howell Lett. I. iii. xxi, The lubricity of mundan greatnesse. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 213 How necessary it is that the holy Prophecies should..be made of uncertain Interpretation by undeterminable lubricities. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-On No. 30 (1794) I. 428 This lubricity of manner, and alienation of thought in his neighbour. 1842 Miall in Nonconf. II. 505 The speech, in their judgment, exhibits more of the lubricity of the clever tactician than of the serious designs of the minister. 1874 Motley Barneveld (1879) II. xi. 47 The one ally on whom they had a right to depend..was slipping out of their grasp with distracting lubricity. |
† b. Volubility, glibness. Obs.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 202 The bulwarke of reason should..be set against it [the tongue], which..may stay.. that overflowing and inconstant lubricitie which it hath. 1657 M. Hawke Killing is M. Pref. 1 Defamation proceeding from the lubricity of the tongue. |
c. Mobility, suppleness. rare.
| 1809 Malkin Gil Blas ii. ii. ¶2 You would not have been a martyr to the gout, and your limbs would have performed their functions with lubricity. |
3. Lasciviousness, lewdness, wantonness. Also with pl. an instance of this.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. li. 108 a/1 The poore doughter was two yere liuynge in lubrycyte and lecherye. 1593 Munday Def. Contraries 83 Mens vaine pleasures and idle lubricities. 1611 Coryat's Crudities Panegyr. Verses, The ladyes of Lubricity that live in the Bordello. 1693 Dryden Disc. Satire Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 53 From the lechery of those Fauns [he] thinks he has sufficiently proved that satire is derived from them: as if wantonness and lubricity were essential to that sort of poem. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World I. 457 This lubricity was..very far from being general, and we had reason to believe that not a single married woman was guilty of infidelity. 1870 Rock Text. Fabr. Introd. vii. 140 Mischief and lubricity are..shadowed forth in the likeness of the monkey. 1883 M. Arnold in Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 2/1 What man is there that knoweth not that the city of the French is a worshipper of the great goddess Lubricity? 1902 Onlooker's Note-Bk. ii. 12 Women gaze unmoved on the most risky plays and freely canvass the lubricities of life. |