asperity
(əˈspɛrɪtɪ)
Forms: 3–5 asprete, 6 asperite, -tie, 6– -ty.
[a. OF. asprete (mod. âpreté):—L. asperitātem, f. asper rough: see -ty. Subseq. assimilated to the L. word.]
1. Unevenness of surface, roughness, ruggedness; concr. in pl. sharp, rough, or rugged excrescences.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W.) i. xxxvii. 50 a/1, Fewe people wente for to see him, for the grete asprete or sharp⁓nesse of the place. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 246 Iuyce of Mynte..taketh away the asperitie, and roughnesse of the tongue. 1662 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. xii. (1712) 84 To view the Asperities of the Moon through a Dioptrick-glass. 1743 tr. Heister's Surg. 396 If any splinters or Asperities of Bones present themselves. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 25 Almost all Delimaceæ have the leaves covered with asperities. |
2. Roughness of savour, tartness, acridity, acrimony. arch.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta v. 87 Very good for the asperity and siccity of the stomacke. 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 512 Esteeming the Mass of bloud by reason of its asperity..unfit for nutrition. 1747 Berkeley Siris §86 (T.) The asperity of tartarous salts. |
3. Harshness of sound, grating quality. arch.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. 239 The shrilness and asperity of the noise they make. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 88 ¶12 Our language, of which the chief defect is ruggedness and asperity. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 167 A place in Egypt, which he could not specify on account of its asperity. |
4. Of literary style: Ruggedness, lack of polish, inelegance. arch.
| 1779 Johnson Cowley Wks. II. 66 Avoids with very little care either meanness or asperity. ― Philips ibid. II. 293 Those asperities that are venerable in the Paradise Lost are contemptible in the Blenheim. |
5. fig. Harshness to the feelings, rigour, severity; hence, hardship, difficulty. (The earliest sense; arch. exc. in b. Bitter coldness, rigour, bleakness.)
| c 1230 Ancr. R. 354 Vilte and asprete..scheome and pine..beoð þe two leddre stalen þet beoð upriht to þe heouene. a 1535 More Wks. 1218 (R.) To..minysh the vygour and asperite of the paynes. 1659 Hardy Serm. 1 John xlix. (1865) 318/1 This oil [of gladness]..mitigateth the asperity of affliction. 1750 Johnson Rambl. No. 80 ¶4 The nakedness and asperity of the wintry world. 1866 Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 7/5 The great asperity of the climate in winter. |
6. Harshness or sharpness of temper, esp. when displayed in tone or manner; crabbedness, bitterness, acrimony; in pl. harsh, embittered feelings.
| 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. Apol. 554 Animosities, and asperities of mind about toys and trifles. 1757 Johnson Rambl. No. 176 ¶8 Quickness of resentment and asperity of reply. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. iii. (C.D. ed.) 13 Demanded with much asperity what she meant. |