rigidnessn.

1620 N. Brent tr. P. Sarpi Hist. Councel of Trent i. 73 The Pope reprehended in all occasions the rigidnesse of Cardinall Caietan.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. ix. 81 His rigidnesse frighted people from consulting with him.

1653 G. Firmin Sober Reply 1 Mr. Cawdrey did justly taxe me with rigidnesse.

1766 Ess. Midwifery xi. 46 When the tedious birth is owing to rigidness from age, as suppose the first child at forty, we must give the parts time to relax.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 333 (note) His high idea of virtue giving him a rigidness, which makes it difficult for him to accommodate himself to those intrigues.

1828 Ladies' Mag. July 316 A sternness of demeanor accompanied by that rigidness of principle so peculiar to those, disciplined in the school of our puritan fathers.

1853 F. D. Maurice Prophets & Kings Old Test. i. 9 The unchangeableness of God is not to be confounded with the rigidness of a rule or a system.

1907 Times 26 Jan. 9/6 The disease was first noticed by small purple specks upon the skin and rigidness of the joints.

1958 Bull. Atomic Scientists 14 252/2 The hope for these countries to gain more internal freedoms..now rests in gradual relaxation of the rigidness of the Soviet policy.

1991 Bryologist 94 431/1 With the exception of the relative rigidness of their stems and leaves, the northern and south-eastern expressions of F. filiformis are nearly identical.