† adustnessn.
Obsolete.
The quality of being adust (adust adj.1); scorching heat.
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the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > [noun] > specific degree of heat
red heatc1540
fury fire1644
adustness1652
white heat1664
blood heat1678
welding heat1710
black heat1800
welding1842
boiling-heat1846
red-hot1865
melting heat1868
1652 J. French York-shire Spaw xiv. 106 Consider whether there be not abundance of terrene adustness in the bowels of the earth.
1698 J. Pechey Compl. Midwife's Practice (ed. 5) 200 The one of these is hot, and is known by the womans proneness to Venery, by the small Flux of the Monthly Courses, by their adustness, sharpness, inordinate, and difficult Flux.
1843 W. Weir in C. Knight London IV. lxxvi. 15 The mucilaginous properties of the beer are required to neutralise the narcotic adustness of the Nicotian weed.
1862 Palgrave of Sycamora I. iii. 34 A southern adustness of complexion.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1652