[ad. L. type *contābēscentia, n. of state f. contābēscent-: see next and -ENCE. So. F. contabescence (in Littré).]
† 1. A general wasting away, decay, atrophy. Obs. in general sense.
1650. trans. Caussin’s Ang. Peace, 44. Such a cruel Warre … creeping as it were with a slow contabescence … eats up all things.
1654. Charleton, Physiol., 235. All … odorous bodies, in the tract of a few years, confess a substantiall Contabescence, or decay of Quantity.
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Contabescence, same as Contabescentia … an old term for atrophy, consumption, marasmus, or any wasting of the body.
2. Bot. Partial or total suppression of pollen formation in the anthers of flowers. See next.
1869. Masters, Veget. Teratology (Ray Soc.).
1888. Henslow, Orig. Flor. Struct. 275. The phenomenon called contabescence by Gärtner.
