acidity
(əˈsɪdɪtɪ)
[a. Fr. acidité (16th c.); or of its prototype, L. aciditāt-em, n. of quality f. acid-us sour: see acid.]
a. The quality or state of being acid or sour; sourness, tartness, sharpness to the taste.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta vi. 95 Sugar correcteth their acidity. 1656 B. Valentine, Repet. Former Writings 11 There is an acetum made of antimony, of an acidity as other acetums are. 1681 Worlidge Syst. Agric. 9 The heat of the fire evaporating, and consuming the Acidity of the Earth. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 262 No animal Substance produceth Acidity, except Milk. 1748 Hartley Observ. on Man i. i. §3. 98 Acidities, and other Irritations in the Bowels. 1863 Mitchell Farm of Edgewood 143, I count upon its brilliant colouring, and its piquant acidity, in the first days of August. |
b. fig.
| 1711 P. H. Two Late Parliam. 130 He reflected on each mistake with unusual acidity. 1823 Blackw. Mag. May 567 The augmented acidity and more naked shallowness of Brougham. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage lii. 266 The vicar answered with some acidity. |