umbrosity

English

Etymology

From umbrose +‎ -ity, or borrowed from Latin umbrōsitās.

Noun

umbrosity (uncountable)

1. (rare) Shade, shadiness.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     the interstitial divisions being continuated by the accession of oil, it becometh more transparent, and admits the visible rays with less umbrosity

   • 1806, John Claudius Loudon, A Treatise on Forming, Improving, and Managing Country Residences, page 352:

     Shrubberies. […] The judicious introduction of views of more distant scenery; which is most frequently desirable, unless in such parts as, by way of contrast, are preserved in umbrosity.

   • 1839, Thomas MacGill, A hand book, or guide, for strangers visiting Malta, page 20:

     Cotton is grown here as an annual, yet in some strong lands it is allowed to remain in the ground for two seasons […] from the umbrosity of its foliage, and its hoeings, it leaves the land, in a fit and open state to receive a winter crop.

   • 2007, Michael J. A. Speyer, The Chronicles of Samuel Sassodoro, Book Two, page 30:

     The architecture of winecellar-cum-dungeon prohibited a smooth transition from illumination to umbrosity. Lasse's logic was sound: Concentrate on the penumbral areas; any useful item in the deep shadow cannot be seen and any such object in the light will have been removed.

References

• “umbrosity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.