constipated, ppl. a.
(ˈkɒnstɪpeɪtɪd)
[f. prec.]
† 1. Pressed close together, condensed. Obs.
| 1647 H. More Song of Soul i. i. xxviii, Sense cannot..penetrate the crusty fence Of constipated matter close compresse. |
2. a. Of or in reference to the bowels: Confined, rendered costive.
| 1547 Boorde Brev. Health §309 Beware that the bely be not constupated or costiue. 1849 R. T. Claridge Cold Water & Friction-cure (1869) 165 Digestion improved; no longer constipated. |
b. fig.
| 1891 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 277 You will now have to modify your instalment system to meet the emergency of a constipated purse. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 177/1 Constipated, slow to part with money. 1967 Economist 4 Feb. 423/2 So much evolutionary detail has had to be dealt with for the first time that the first half of the book makes rather constipated reading. |