v. [f. as prec. + -EN5.]
1. trans. To make coarse; see the adj.
1805. W. Taylor, in Robberds, Mem., II. 81. Coarsening her attachment.
1812. Coleridge, Rem. (1836), I. 329. Low cunning, habitual cupidity … coarsen the human face.
1879. M. Arnold, Mixed Ess., Equality, 70. The ideal of well-being is not to be … lowered and coarsened.
2. intr. To become coarse.
1880. M. Crommelin, Black Abbey, III. xii. 197. The clay case coarsens and becomes the most apparent part of us.
Hence Coarsened ppl. a., Coarsening vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1837. Ht. Martineau, Soc. in Amer. (1839), II. 331. The coarsening and hardening of mind.
1854. Chamb. Jrnl., I. 65. Hardening, coarsening toil.
1861. Q. Rev., No. 220. 541. He [A. de Tocqueville] compared the original of our institutions with their magnified and coarsened copy across the Atlantic.
