prurience (proriens)

[ There is a prurience in the speech of some, Wrath stays him, or else God would strike them dumb. Cowper , Conversation, 1. 31. pruriency (pröʻri-en-si), n. [As prurience (see -cy).] The character or state of being prurient. (a) An itching or longing after something; an eager desire or appetite. This selfsame vile pruriency for fresh adventure in all things has got... strongly into our habits and humours. Sterne , Tristram Shandy, i. 20. The bustling insignificance of Maximilian, cursed with an impotent pruriency for renown. Macaulay , Machi a vell i. (b) A tendency toward, or a habit of, lascivious thought; sensuality. Between prudery and pruriency in such matters there is a wide debatable ground, and it is not always easy to draw the line which separates what is permi ible from what is not. The American , XVII. 110. prurient (prö'ri-ent), a . [=Pg. pruriente , prurien (t-) s , ppr. of prurire , itch.] 1. Itching; having an eager desire or longing for something. There was always in the generality of mankind a pru rient desire and hankering after the knowledge of future events. Culver well , Light of Nature. (Ord MS.) Love Should have some rest and pleasure in himself, Not ever be too curious for a boon, Too prurient for a proof against the grain Of him ye say ye love. Tennyson , Merlin and Vivien. 2. Inclined to lascivious thought; of an unclean habit of mind;; sensual. The eye of the vain and prurient is darting from object to object of illicit attraction. Isaac Taylor . pruriently (prö'ri-ent-li), adv. In a prurient manner; with a longing or lascivious desire. pruriginous (prö-rij'i-nus), a. [= F. prurigi neux = Sp. Pg. It. pruriginoso, Their blood becoming pruriginous , and exalted by the salt and corrupt diet, as it often does, produces mange, scabs, and leprosies. Green hill, Art of Embalming (1705), p. 164.