mordacity (mordasiti)

[ Such things as have very thin parts, yet notwithstanding are without all acrimony or mordacity , are very good sallets. Bacon, Hist. Life and Death, § 25. The facility of doggerel merely of itself could not have yielded the exuberance of his [Skelton's] humour and the mordacity of his satire. I. D'Israeli , Amen. of Lit., I. 318. mordant (môr'dant), a. and n. [ daunt (def. II., 1), mordant , F. mordant = Sp . mordiente = Pg. mordente = It. mordente (> E. mordent ), morden ( t- )s, ppr. of mordere (> It. mordere = Sp. Pg. morder = F. mordre ) , bite, sting, prob. orig. * smordere = AS. smeortan , E. smart, sting: see smart, v. From L. mordere (pp. mors us ) are also ult. E. mordacious, etc., morsel , morceau , remorse , etc., muzzle.] I. a. 1. Biting; keen; caustic; sarcastic; severe. It [salt] in physick is held for mordant , burning, caustike, and mundificative. Holland , tr. of Pliny, xxx. 10. 2. Having the property of fixing colors. II. n. 1. A metal chape covering one end of a strap or belt, especially if so arranged as to hook into a clasp on the other end to facilitate securing the belt round the person. The mordant often forms with the belt-plate a single design, the decorated front being either as large as the plate or of such shape as to combine with it to form a circular or other regular figure. Also mourdant. Ryche e a girdelle hadde upon, The bokele of it was of a stoon,... The mourdaunt , wrought in noble wise, Was of a stoon fulle precious. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1094. 2. In the fine arts: (a) Any corrosive liquid, such as aqua fortis, which will eat into a metallic or other surface when applied to it in the proce of etching. See etching. tching. (b) A glutinous size used as a ground for gilding; a gold mordant; an adhesive mixture for attaching gold-leaf to an indented dotted pattern as a picture-background.-3. In dyeing, a substance used to fix colors; a substance which has an affinity for, or which can at least penetrate, the ti ue to be colored, and which po e es also the property of combining with the coloring matter employed, and of forming with it an insoluble compound within or about the fibers. Albumin, gluten, casein, gelatin, tannin, certain oils, certain acids, certain resins, alumina, soda, and lead salts, pure or in compounds, are used as mordants. A mordant is also termed a basis or base. Opposite is the best mordant to fix the color of your thought in the general belief. O. W. Holmes, Med. E ays, p. 272. Pg. It. morboso, Seignior Malpighi, in his Treatise of Galls, under which name he comprehends all preternatural and morbose tumors and excrescencies of plants. Ray , Works of Creation, i. network of the whitish ground-color. Several other morays occur on the southern Atlantic coast of the United States, and M. mordax is a Californian moray attaining a length of 5 feet.