nitency

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪtənsi/

Etymology 1

From Latin nitens, present participle of niti (“to strive”).

Noun

nitency (countable and uncountable, plural nitencies)

1. endeavour; effort; tendency
   • 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects, (Made, for the Most Part, in a New Pneumatical Engine) […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC:

     their Spring or endeavour outward will be augmented, that is , those Zones will have a strong nitency to flie wider

Etymology 2

From Latin nitens, present participle of nitere (“to shine”).

Noun

nitency (countable and uncountable, plural nitencies)

1. brightness; lustre

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “nitency”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)