[f. CAUSTIC + -ITY. Cf. F. causticité.]
1. Caustic quality; burning pungent taste; the property of destroying or corroding organic tissue.
1772. Priestley, in Phil. Trans., LXII. 254. Free from causticity.
1791. Macie, ibid. LXXXI. 375. This solution had an alkaline taste, but seemingly with little, if any, causticity.
1802. Playfair, Illustr. Hutton. The., 523. The causticity produced in limestone by exposure to fire.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 7. Acridity, causticity, and poison, are the general characters of this suspicious order.
2. fig. of speech or humor.
1785. H. Walpole, Lett. C’tess Ossory, II. 220. I … endeavoured to repair my causticity.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xiii. With his usual dry causticity of humour.
1866. Freer, Regency Anne of A., I. i. 20. The duke was witty, and famous for the causticity of his tongue.
