costive
Americanadjective
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suffering from constipation; constipated.
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slow in action or in expressing ideas, opinions, etc.
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Obsolete. stingy; tight-fisted.
adjective
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having constipation; constipated
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sluggish
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niggardly
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of costive
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from unrecorded Anglo-French costif, for Middle French costivé, past participle of costiver “to constipate,” from Latin constīpāre ( see constipate)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And where do you think they should land, Mr. Costive? whisper me that.
From A Lecture On Heads As Delivered By Mr. Charles Lee Lewes, To Which Is Added, An Essay On Satire, With Forty-Seven Heads By Nesbit, From Designs By Thurston, 1812 by Thurston, Katherine Cecil
Costive, kos′tiv, adj. having the motion of the bowels too slow: constipated.—adv.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various
Ay, Sir, and if at any time Nature be too infirm, and he prove Costive, he has no more to do, but apply a Load-stone ad Anum.
From The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III by Summers, Montague
If the Patient is full of blood, bleeding is necessary, and if Costive, a Dose of Manna, Senna, or any gentle Laxative, or a Clyster, should be given.
From An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, called Aether. by Turner, Matthew
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
