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pungency, n.

DRAFT REVISION Dec. 2009

Brit. /pn(d)()nsi/, U.S. /pndnsi/  [< PUNGENT adj. or its etymon classical Latin pungent-, pungns: see -ENCY suffix. Compare post-classical Latin pungentia fact of piercing, penetration (mid 13th cent. in a British source). Compare later PUNGENCE n., and also POIGNANCE n., POIGNANCY n.] 

    The quality of being pungent.

    1. Intensity of grief or distress; hurtful or wounding quality; poignancy. Now rare.

1649 BP. J. TAYLOR Great Exemplar Pref. §19 The pungency of forbidden lust is truely a thorne in the flesh. 1664 G. HAVERS tr. T. Renaudot et al Gen. Coll. Disc. Virtuosi France II. lxviii. 411 Anger..serves to check the pungency of grief, as fear and boldness come to the assistance of flight. 1701 L. SMITH Evid. Things not Seen ii. 46 In Hell there is nothing but pure unmingled Misery; no Rebatement of the Edge and Pungency thereof. 1776 W. J. MICKLE Introd. in W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoëns Lusiad p. cxvi, Camoens beheld it with a pungency of grief which hastened his exit. 1864 H. W. ADAMS Bk. Job in Poetry p. xvi, What gives the bitterest pungency to human sorrow, is to feel it is undeserved. 1897 F. ROGERS Folk-stories Northern Border 191 This circumstance gave a pungency to the grief and feelings of every sympathetic heart.

    2 lit. The property of pricking or piercing; the fact of having a sharp point or points. Obs.

1654 W. CHARLETON Physiologia III. xii. 308 The Atoms of Heat may..prick as sharply, and penetrate as deeply, as the Angles of the smallest Pyramid imaginable. To which may be conjoyned, that the Atoms of Cold..are also capable of Pungency and Penetration. 1664 H. POWER Exper. Philos. I. 52 Oblong particles, angular and pointed, which may perchance exstimulate the Stomach, (by its netling pungency) like a heap of needles. 1732 J. ARBUTHNOT Pract. Rules of Diet iv. 407 Any Substance which by its Pungency can wound the Worms.

    3. a. The property of having a pungent smell or taste; (more widely) a stinging, irritant, or caustic quality.

1663 J. BEALE Let. 4 Jan. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1965) II. 3 And from apple, peare, cherry, plum &c yt yields good liquor; It must ever flowe wth an austere pungency. 1676 N. GREW Exper. Luctation i. §11 The pungency of Ginger lyeth in a sulphureous and volatile Salt. 1756 F. HOME Exper. Bleaching 128 They have a saline taste, with a considerable degree of pungency. 1774 O. GOLDSMITH Hist. Earth VI. 295 The violent pungency of the slimy substance... If the smallest quantity but touch the skin..it burns it like hot oil. 1856 E. K. KANE Arctic Explor. I. xiv. 155 The air had a perceptible pungency upon inspiration. 1898 T. C. ALLBUTT et al. Syst. Med. V. 126 Carbonate of Ammonia should be..combined with syrup of tolu, liquorice or treacle, to soften its pungency. 1947 S. J. PERELMAN Acres & Pains (1995) i. 10 On a fine night..I can smell the sharp pungency of a hot corned-beef sandwich all the way from New York. 1994 Equinox Aug. 63/2 A nasty bitter-almond pungency lingered on my tongue. 2000 J. CUMMINGS World Food: Thailand 56 Thai restaurateurs harbour the idea that the delicate faràng (western) palate cannot handle the heat or pungency [of yam].

    b. A stinging sensation, esp. in the mouth or throat. Obs. rare.

1792 W. WITHERING Bot. Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 2) III. 295 [Agaricus lactifluus] abounding with white milky juice, at first mild, but at length leaving a slight pungency in the throat.

    4. Keenness of effect on the mind or intellect; incisiveness or force (of argument); trenchancy, asperity (of criticism or censure); sharpness, bite.

1665 E. WATERHOUSE Gentlemans Monitor xviii. 144 Yet every incongruous marriage may not fall under the pungency of the censure in the full of what is thus expressed. 1670 W. ANNAND Pater Noster V. iii. 192 The pungency of Christian Doctors Arguments. 1701 Life Plato in M. Dacier Plato Abrig'd I. 61 Those Discourses which instead of carrying pungency and Reproof in 'em, are only calculated to sooth and please, are not becoming a Wise Man. 1800 L. D. CAMPBELL Life & Wks. Hugh Boyd I. 177 His prevailing excellencies are the precision and clearness of his reasoning, the vigour, pungency, and terseness of his style. a1862 H. T. BUCKLE Hist. Civilisation Eng. (1869) III. ii. 110 The large amount of truth contained in this bitter taunt increased its pungency. 1926 Amer. Mercury July 285/1 The new floor-walker editorial policy, with its intolerance of any pungency or saltiness whatever, have destroyed journalism. 1994 H. BLOOM Western Canon II. vi. 156 Order and tranquility are nevertheless now permanently difficult to achieve, and the passage retains its pungency.

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