[ad. L. type *villōsitās: see prec. and -ITY. So F. villosité, Sp. vellosidad.]
1. Bot., Zool., etc. The condition or fact of being villose or villous.
a. 1727. Lightfoot, Flor. Scot., II. 606. This villosity [of the lear] soon wears off.
1823. Scoresby, Jrnl., 414. They differ from both in the form and villosity of the leaves.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot. (ed. 3), 59. Villosity,… when they [sc. hairs] are very long, very soft, erect, and straight.
1857. Darwin, in F. Darwin Life (1887), II. 98. I find Moquin-Tandon treats in his ‘Tératologie’ on villosity of plants.
b. 1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xvii. 309. The villosity of the skin.
1852. Dana, Crust., I. 200. But slight traces of any villosity can be detected.
1861. Hagen, Synop. Neuroptera N. Amer., 180. Thorax obscure brassy-brown, with brown villosity.
2. a. A villous formation or surface. b. A villus.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., II. 229. This villosity is supposed to be composed of tubes adapted to taking up the surrounding fluids.
1857. Bullock, trans. Cazeaux’ Midwifery, 70. Its internal surface … exhibiting granulations, and some extremely delicate villosities.
1879. De Quatrefages’ Hum. Spec., 50. The modifications of the hair and villosities.
