ventosity ? Obs.
(vɛnˈtɒsɪtɪ)
Forms: 5 ventosytee, 6 -ytie, -yte; 4–6 -ite, 6 -itee, -itye, 7 -itie, 6– ventosity.
[a. OF. (and F.) ventosité (= It. ventosità, Prov. ventositat, Sp. -idad, Pg. idade), ad. L. ventōsitas windiness, flatulency, conceit, f. ventōs-us ventose a.]
1. Path. The state of having the stomach or other part of the alimentary canal charged with wind; flatulency.
Freq. from 1540 to 1600.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxvii. (Bodl. MS.), Þat comeþ of..þikke humours oþer of grete ventosite. a 1400 in Rel. Antiq. I. 51 For wynd and ventosite, that men callis collica passio. a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 58 If þe flowyng be olde, Anathemasis is made for aboundance of blode or for ventosite descendyng doune. c 1530 Judic. Urines iii. iii. 49 It sheweth but lytell crudyte and ventosyte of the humours. 1582 J. Hester Secr. Phiorav. iii. lxv. 89 It will defende hym from all interiour passions that are caused of ventositie. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1639) 197 The Collick... This infirmitie is engendred of ventositie, or winde in the gut Colon. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 115 Peccant humours..being hindred by oppilations in the guts, through costivenesse and ventosity. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. i. 31 The Gout arises from..a flatulent Ventosity. 1748 tr. Vegetius Renatus' Distempers Horses 75 The Disease which arises from Ventosity or Constipation. |
b. pl. Gases generated in the stomach or bowels; attacks of flatulence.
Common from c 1600 to c 1630.
| 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 241 Goynge afor mette dryuth away the ventositeis. 1456 Sir G. Haye Gov. Princes Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 140 Quhen it [sc. wine] is our suete it..engenderis ventositeis. c 1530 Judic. Urines ii. x. 38 And therfor are caused many fumosytes and ventosites in the body. 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 77 The which do vaynqueshe and expelle ventositees and windenesse. 1602 Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618) iii. 790 It driueth away ventosities, and flourisheth first amongst all trees. 1628 Venner Baths of Bathe (1650) 355 To take cold betwixt the bathings..induceth ventosities. 1659 Macallo Can. Physick 72 Belching Ventosities, or Winds,..are prognosticks that a future Crise will be by vomit. |
c. The quality in things that produces flatulence.
| 1822–7 Good Study Med. (1829) I. 171 Many of the vegetable materials introduced into the stomach possess far more ventosity than apples. |
2. A blast or puff of wind, esp. one coming from the stomach.
| 1513 Douglas æneid vii. Prol. 123 Quhais cryis bene pronosticatioun Off wyndy blastis and ventositeis. 1568 Bk. Culture, Belke nere no mans face;..it is a stinking ventosity. 1614 Purchas Pilgrimage ix. v. 842 This commeth of a ventositie which it voideth..or casteth..out being in danger to be taken. 1725 Fam. Dict., Belching, a Ventosity coming out of the mouth with a disagreeable noise. |
3. The state of being windy; windiness.
| c 1570 Pride & Lowl. (1841) 30 His breeches great, full of ventositie. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 35 Wee caytiefe Troians, with storms ventositye mangled. 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. iii. iv, The..ventositie of the Tropicks. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Essex i. (1662) 319 The ventosity thereof [sc. powder] causing the violent explosion of the bullet. |
4. fig. The state of being inflated or puffed up; pompous conceit, vanity, or bombast.
| c 1550 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 77 But turne from such occasyon, friend, hate such ventositye. 1589 Nashe Martin Marprelate Wks. (Grosart) I. 120 They are so full of ventositie, that I cannot come at their matter for winde and words. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. iv. §3 Some effects of that venome which is ventositie or swelling. 1631 R. H. Arraignm. Whole Creature iv. 24 Vaine glory..is windy and full of ventosity, consisting of popular applause. 1710 Shaftesbury Charac. (1711) I. i. 159 Apprehensive of the Effects of this Frothiness or Ventosity in Speech. 1807 W. Irving Salmag. (1811) 139 He is a man of superlative ventosity, and comparable to nothing but a huge bladder of wind. Ibid. (1849) 304 This general, with all his outward valour and ventosity. |
b. An instance of this; an idle conceit.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. 13 Many men..do esteeme desire of name and memory but as a vanitie and ventositie. 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 240 Whose rash ventosities and aery promises we reject. 1681 Rycaut tr. Gracian's Critick 164 The Swelling Ventosities of Vanity. |
† 5. Surg. = ventosing vbl. n. Obs. rare—1.
| ? 1485 tr. Bp. Knutsson's Litil Bk. Pestilence 9 And if a swellyng appere in the sholdres lesse it with ventosite. |