[ad. med.L. *vegetabilitas, f. L. vegetābilis VEGETABLE a.: see -ITY. Cf. OF. vegetablete (Godef.), F. végétabilité, It. vegetabilità, Sp. vegetabilidad.]

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  † 1.  A vegetable organism. Obs.–1

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c. 1400.  trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 90. It shewys opynly … þat euerylk kende of vegetabilitez haues a propre ordre, þat ys, complexioun.

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  2.  Vegetable character, quality or nature.

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1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. v. 91. [The] lapidificall juyce of the Sea, which entring the parts of that plant [sc. coral], overcomes its vegetability, and converts it into a lapideous substance.

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1670.  Phil. Trans., V. 2035. A description of sundry new Metals, or Semi-metals, as he calls them; together with a discourse of their Vegetability.

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1686.  Plot, Staffordsh., 189. These … have their vegetability the same way, with the porous species of Coral.

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1854.  Fraser’s Mag., L. 192. If any additional proofs of the vegetability of corallines were needed.

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1858.  T. R. Jones, Aquarian Nat., 136. The mineralogists … questioned the vegetability of such of these productions as were of a hard and stony nature.

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