lentor
(ˈlɛntə(r), ˈlɛntɔː(r))
Also 7 lentour.
[ad. F. lenteur or L. lentor (sense 1), f. lentus slow.]
1. Of the blood, etc.: Clamminess, tenacity, viscidity. Now rare.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §900 All Matter whereof Creatures are produced by Putrefaction haue euermore a Closenesse, Lentour, and Sequacity. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xiv. 486 In this Disease the whole Blood does not presently acquire that lentor or sliminess. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 36 Arborescent Holi-hocks..by reason of their clamminess and Lentor, banished from our Sallet. 1744 Berkeley Siris §52 There is lentor and smoothness in the blood of healthy strong people. 1797 J. Downing Disord. Horned Cattle 3 This medicine..extinguishes the inflammatory lentor. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 560 That [hypothesis] of Boerhaave founded on the doctrine of a peculiar viscosity, or lentor of the blood. |
† b. concr. A viscid component of the blood.
| c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. viii. (1738) 38 A great deal of Lenter may undoubtedly be squeezed through the smallest vessels. 1722 Quincey Lex. Phys.-Med. (ed. 2), Lentor hath been used.. to express that sizy, viscid, coagulated Part of the Blood, which in malignant Fevers obstructs the capillary Vessels. |
2. Slowness; want of vital activity.
| a 1763 Shenstone Wks. & Lett. (1768) II. 228 Persons of a phlegmatic constitution have..a lentor which wine may naturally remove. 1779 J. Lovell in J. Adams' Wks. (1854) IX. 487 Nor can I omit to call to your mind..that the lentor of proceedings here should account for the appearances of injustice done you. 1847–9 Todd Cycl. Anat. IV. 297/1 The extreme lentor of all their [serpents'] digestive functions. |