Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
costive. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
costive, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
costive in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
costive you have here. The definition of the word
costive will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
costive, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
From Middle French costivé, ultimately from Latin constipatus (“constipated”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
costive
- Constipated.
1607 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], The Knight of the Burning Pestle, London: [Nicholas Okes] for Walter Burre, , published 1613, →OCLC, Act V, signature K3, recto:When I was mortall, this my costiue corps / Did lap vp Figs and Raisons in the Strand, / Where sitting I espi'd a louely Dame, / Whose maister wrought with Lingell and with All, / And vnder ground he vampied many a boote.
2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty , 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 346:Melanie, who was used to Wani's costive memos, and even to dressing up the gist of a letter in her own words, stuck out her tongue in concentration as she took down Nick's old-fashioned periods and perplexing semicolons.
- (informal) Miserly, parsimonious.
Derived terms
Anagrams