Also 7 vinocitie. [ad. L. vīnōsitās (Tertullian), the flavor of wine, f. vīnōs-us: see prec. and -ITY. So OF. and F. vinosité, It. vinosità, Sp. vinosidad, Pg. vinosidade.]
1. The state or quality of being vinous; vinous character or flavor.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., 33. Vessels of Oyles and Aromaticall Liquors…. And some yet retaining a Vinosity and spirit in them, which if any have tasted they have farre exceeded the Palats of Antiquity. [Hence in Blount, Glossogr. (1661).]
1714. Mandeville, Fab. Bees (1733), II. 210. If we consider, how necessary fermentation is to the vinosity of the liquor.
1757. A. Cooper, Distiller, I. ii. (1760), 20. It is common with Distillers, in order to … give it a particular Flavour, or improve its Vinosity.
1843. Tizard, Brewing, 465. The vinosity and mellowness [of vinous liquors] are at the same time improved.
1889. Pall Mall G., 20 July. A Médoc wine-taster can tell at a sip what sort of ground a bottle of wine has grown in;… that grown on a stony layer is marked by greater body and vinosity.
1890. O. Crawfurd, Round Calendar in Portugal, 195. It contains ænanthic ethers and all the rich and subtle chemistry of vinosity, which help to cheer and sustain the body and spirits of man.
2. Fondness for, addiction to, wine.
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., VII. 348. The souldiers … reprooving his intemperate vinositie. Ibid., IX. 441. Riots, Reuels, Banquets, Pride, Surfets, Vinocitie, Voracitie.
1857. Fraser’s Mag., LVI. 486. Aristophanes himself, notwithstanding his jokes on the vinosity of Cratinus, is said in Athenæus to have been well primed with wine when he sat down to write.
