ˈunctuousness
Also 4 vnctuosnes.
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The quality or state of being unctuous.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. xxxiii. (Bodl. MS.), Somme vnctuous þinges greueþ þe breste w{supt} drynes þ{supt} is þerin, as it fareþ in oile of nottes, for suche haue not pure vnctuosnes. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xxix. (1658) 316 Softnesse, unctuousnesse, and viscousnesse, encreaseth blacknesse. 1682 T. Gibson Anat. (1697) 25 Whilst Nature takes care that it..besmear both the Stomach and Intestines with its Unctuousness. 1705 Addison Italy (1733) 140 Its Unctuousness will make it heavy. 1758 Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 23 We shall afterwards see that, bating this unctuousness, it has none of the properties of oils. 1891 W. A. Jamieson Dis. Skin (ed. 3) i. 11 The office of the coil glands is to impart unctuousness to the skin. |
| fig. 1866 Pall Mall G. 3 Jan., The coarse, self-exhibiting unctuousness with which his book overflows. |