[ad. F. vénalité, or late L. vēnālitās, f. vēnālis VENAL a.1 So It. venalità, Sp. venalidad, Pg. -idade.]
1. The quality or fact of being for sale. rare.
1611. Cotgr., Venalitie, venalitie, vendiblenesse; a being salable; a letting or setting vnto sale. [Hence in Blount (1636).]
1820. Ranken, Hist. France, VII. I. ii. 158. They proposed … to abolish altogether the venality of offices, which would have cut off one of the principal sources of finance in the state.
1874. Tyrwhitt, Sketch. Club, 168. The intense vulgarity of so much English work comes direct from its venality.
2. The quality of being venal; readiness to give support or favor in return for profit or reward; prostitution of talents or principles for mercenary considerations.
a. 1683. Sidney, Disc. Govt., II. xxv. (1704), 183. Such as will rise, must render themselves conformable in all corruption and venality.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Rom. Hist. (1827), III. 288. A soul superior to venality and views of interest.
1749. Bolingbroke, Lett. Patriotism, etc., 128. Want is the consequence of profusion, venality of want, and dependance of venality.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, xxiii. III. 309. It only proves the opinion generally entertained of Spartan venality.
1874. Green, Short Hist., ix. § 3. 622. His pride and venality had made him unpopular with the nation at large.
