devexity

English

Etymology

From Latin devexitas, from devexus. See devex (adjective).

Noun

devexity (usually uncountable, plural devexities)

1. A bending downward; declivity.
   • 1738, John Pointer, A Rational Account of the Weather, page 184:

     'Twas the more surprizing upon this account, because since the Matter of thie Phaenomenon seem'd to be but a very Thin Vapour, it was necessary that That Vapour shou'd be either of a vast Extent to answer the Superficies of the Earth; or else of a vast Height, that the Devexity of the Subperficies of the Earth shou'd not hinder its being seen in the same Situation from Places so far distant;

   • 1792, John Pope, A Tour Through the Southern and Western Territiries of the United States of North-America, page 22:

     The Governor of Pensacola says, that the etymology of Langue la Graisse originates from the Rivers forming an extensive Curve; where, upon the first Settlement of the Place, great Quantities of Bear-Meat were stored up for the Use of the Garrison and the French and Spanish Navigators up and down the Missisippi, which Meat is of a very oleose Quality ; though in my Opinion , the Greasiness of the Soil , with the Devexity of the River, sufficiently justify the Epithet.

   • 1846, Thomas Pybus, Hymns:

     The hand of the merciless critic, will dash them, with violent devexity, into the sea of demerit, and there they will float upon the waters of dishonour;

   • 1848, Pliny the Elder, translated by Philemon Holland, Pliny's Natural History. In Thirty-seven Books, volumes 1-3, page 114:

     And as this North Pole seemeth to be aloft to those that are situated directly under it, so to them that be removed so far as the other Devexity or Fall of the Earth, those abovesaid Stars rise up aloft there, while these decline downward which here were mounted on high.

   • 1892, Tom Masson, “All Gone”, in Current Literature, volume 9, page 447:

     But while with such intensity he spouted on immensity, His wife with sweet devexity was cutting quite a dash; And with such ingenuity she monkeyed his annuity, He found to his perplexity she'd dressed away his cash.