acutenessn.

1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. xxxix. sig. Bb7 Thus is the aboundaunce of wordes made not distasting, with giuing the apprehensions of the auditories vnexpected acutenes, and meeting with the thrust of a iest, thrusts it backe vpon the iester.

1627 Bp. J. Hall Epist. iv. iii. 341 To finde wit in poetry, in philosophy profoundnesse, in mathematicks acuteness.

1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 414 Full blown with the opinion of his wonderfull Acuteness.

1755 E. Young Centaur i, in Wks. (1757) IV. 109 The boasted acuteness of his superior understanding.

1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho IV. ix. 168 I have sometimes known her argue..with acuteness, and then, in a moment, start off into madness.

1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe II. viii. 467 It cannot be reckoned a proof of his acuteness in zoology, that he placed the hippopotamus among aquatic animals.

1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede II. ii. xviii. 33 The father and mother exchanged a significant glance of amusement at their eldest-born's acuteness.

1901 Black Cat Mar. 39 But I underrated her acuteness. She must have suspected a possible trick.

1955 E. Bishop Poems: North & South 80 The acuteness of the question forks instantly and starts a snake-tongue flickering.

1988 J. M. Dillon in J. M. Dillon & A. A. Long Question of ‘Eclecticism’ iv. 104 Eclecticism is a mark of acuteness and originality, as opposed to narrow-minded sectarianism.

1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. O2 Divers shapes, smoothnesse, asperity, Straightnesse, acutenesse, and rotundity.

1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxvi. 235 If you touch the vipers hart ouer with vinegar, with spiritt of wine, with sharpe white wine, or with any piercing liquour; it presently dyeth: for the acutenesse of such substances, pierceth through the viscous bloud.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 84 Glasse..by reason of its acutenesse and angularity, commonly excoriates the parts through which it passeth. View more context for this quotation

1660 H. More Explan. Grand Myst. Godliness vi. xviii. 275 The acuteness and spinosity of harsh and dry Opinions.

1748 Gentleman's Mag. Dec. 543/2 The fine edge of a knife (or fine blade of steel) when truly set, cannot be magnified by the best Lens, by reason of the acuteness of the angle at the edge.

1798 C. Greville in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 88 441 The hexaedral pyramids are usually incomplete in their apex, and they vary in acuteness.

1850 J. Greenwood Sailor's Sea-bk. 107 Clean, a term generally used to express the acuteness or sharpness of a ship's body.

1869 Daily News 14 May To appreciate for himself the poisonous odours of Barnwell Pool, the acuteness of Chesterton Corner, and the perils of the bridge.

1916 Pop. Sci. Monthly 89 597/1 Combining such features as the strength of the tooth, the acuteness of the cutting angle, and the ease with which it may be sharpened.

1987 Sunday Mail (Queensland) (Nexis) 13 Dec. The kicks and struggles of the sheep as it objects to the acuteness of the angle at which its neck is being twisted.

2005 Archit. Hist. 48 16 The ease with which the acuteness of the arch could be adjusted to suit particular locations.

a1644 F. Quarles Profest Royalist (1645) ii. 23 Try no experiments upon a body so declined, and let not the Acutenesse of her disease swade you to a desperate remedy.

1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia 438 The acutenesse of the diseases, and signes of concoction.

1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iii. 353 If the Patient survives three Days, the Acuteness of the Pain abates.

1796 J. Latham On Rheumatism & Gout 44 That the loss of blood will diminish the acuteness of this disease, experience abundantly confirms.

1852 Provinc. Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 13 Oct. 525/1 In gastritis, the acuteness of the attack, the pain of the stomach, and dryness of the tongue, are in proportion to the degree of fever.

1929 Jrnl. Infectious Dis. 45 10 It is apparent..that the speed of sedimentation is not dependent merely upon the acuteness or chronicity of the disease.

1963 Med. Care 1 79/2 Intensity of care cannot be absolutely equated with acuteness of illness or severity of symptoms.

2002 Mirror (Nexis) 11 Apr. 10 In my experience, the acuteness of the pain [of bereavement] may take several years to subside.

1644 K. Digby Two Treat. i. xxvii. 249 This man within a litle while after he came to good keeping and full feeding, quite lost that acutenesse of smelling which formerly gouerned him in his taste.

1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing 5 The acuteness of his natural Opticks.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxiii. 141 If Eyes so framed, could not view at once the Hand, and the Characters of the Hour-plate,..their Owner could not be much benefited by that acuteness.

1714 J. Browne Inst. Physick 245 Acuteness or quickness of Hearing, affecting the Brain strongly with the smallest Sound.

1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind ii. §1. 104 The acuteness of smell in some animals, shews us, that these effluvia spread far.

1823 C. Lamb My Relations in Elia 169 A constitutional acuteness to this class of sufferings.

1872 C. Darwin Expression Emotions Man & Animals xiii. 342 When we direct our whole attention to any one sense, its acuteness is increased.

1910 G. Tyrrell Autobiogr. (1912) I. iii. 33 This deafness is covered by the acquired, supernormal acuteness of the other ear.

1951 G. R. de Beer Vertebr. Zool. (ed. 2) xxxii. 341 The acuteness of the power of hearing is greatly increased in the Cypriniform fish (e.g. Amiurus) where the swim-bladder is connected to the ear by the Weberian ossicles.

1998 Daily Tel. 6 Jan. 15/1 Acuteness of vision is measured in dioptres.

1659 J. Owen Of Divine Originall, Authority, & Power Script. 278 Apert simple sounds are distinguishable... The Formall difference is that which doth constitute severall letters, and must depend upon the various Apertion, required to the making of them, together with the Gravity or Acutenesse of the tone which is made by them.

1664 J. Wallis Let. 14 May in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1965) II. 193 To this it is yt ye Ancients do accommodate their Octave or Diapason: so Tuning ye two Extremes of the Octachord, that ye Acutenesse of ye one be Double to that of ye other.

1669 R. Boyle Of Absolute Rest in Bodies iii. 7 in Certain Physiol. Ess. (ed. 2) This acuteness of sound will shew, that whilst to the Eye the Bell seems to be at Rest, yet the minute parts of it continue in a very brisk motion.

1721 A. Malcolm Treat. Musick 539 All this seems plainly to put the Difference of the Tones only in the Acuteness or Gravity of the Whole.

1779 Scots Mag. Oct. 516/2 It was not only necessary to diversify sound by acuteness and gravity, but also by length and shortness.

1834 N. A. Willard Treat. Music Hindoostan p. v The various degrees of acuteness or gravity of sounds..cannot be expressed by common language.

1873 S. Taylor Sound & Music ii. 58 Sounds above a certain degree of acuteness become painful to the ear, and therefore unfit for musical purposes.

1903 W. F. Apthorp Fifty Songs R. Franz Pref. p. xiv Above a certain acuteness of pitch he was deaf.