Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Windiness; flatulence.
  • noun Empty pride; vainglory; inflated vanity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Quality or state of being ventose; windiness; hence, vainglory; pride.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The quality or state of being ventose; windiness; hence, vainglory; pride.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the department of the diseases of women chapters are devoted to amenorrhea, menorrhagia, hysteria (_suffocatio matricis_), prolapse, ulceration, abscess, cancer, dropsy and "ventosity" of the uterus

    Gilbertus Anglicus Medicine of the Thirteenth Century Henry Ebenezer Handerson

  • He knows about diamonds, "stones of love and reconciliation"; and about man's dreams "that vary according to the variation of the fumes that enter into the little chamber of his phantasy"; and about headaches that arise from "hot choleric vapours, full of ventosity"; and about the moon, that, "by the force of her dampness, sets her impression in the air and engenders dew"; and about everything in fact.

    A Literary History of the English People From the Origins to the Renaissance Jean Jules Jusserand

  • Both of them were youths of a Sprightly Genius, and of an Alert Apprehension, attended, in the case of GRANDOLPH, with a mighty heat and ebullition of Fancy, which led early to a certain frothiness or ventosity in speech.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 101, November 7, 1891 Various

  • On the one hand, a sternness and a coarseness of structure which changes its stem into a stake, and its leaf into a spine; on the other, an utter flaccidity and ventosity of structure, which changes its stem into a riband, and its leaf into a bubble.

    Proserpina, Volume 1 Studies Of Wayside Flowers John Ruskin 1859

  • Seek something better than ventosity beneath the sky.

    Droll Stories — Volume 1 Honor�� de Balzac 1824

  • Seek something better than ventosity beneath the sky.

    Droll Stories — Complete Collected from the Abbeys of Touraine Honor�� de Balzac 1824

  • I must confess this general, with all his outward valor and ventosity, was not exactly an officer to Peter Stuyvesant's taste, but he stood foremost in the army list of William the Testy, and it is probable the good Peter, who was conscientious in his dealings with all men, and had his military notions of precedence, thought it but fair to give him a chance of proving his right to his dignities.

    Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete Washington Irving 1821

  • And surely no small number of those who are of solid nature, and who, from the want of this ventosity, cannot spread all sail in pursuit of their own honour, suffer some prejudice and lose dignity by their moderation.”

    Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions 2007

  • But if it be carried with decency and government, as with a natural, pleasant, and ingenious fashion; or at times when it is mixed with some peril and unsafety (as in military persons); or at times when others are most envied; or with easy and careless passage to it and from it, without dwelling too long, or being too serious; or with an equal freedom of taxing a man's self, as well as gracing himself; or by occasion of repelling or putting down others 'injury or insolency; it doth greatly add to reputation: and surely not a few solid natures, that want this ventosity and cannot sail in the height of the winds, are not without some prejudice and disadvantage by their moderation.

    The Advancement of Learning Francis Bacon 1593

  • And surely no small number of those who are of solid nature, and who, from the want of this ventosity, cannot spread all sail in pursuit of their own honour, suffer some prejudice and lose dignity by their moderation.”

    Oscar Wilde Harris, Frank 1916

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  • He’s not much at subtle philosophy

    And stranger to grace, wit or prosody,

    But his vulgar sallies

    Do gin up his rallies.

    He’s champ when it comes to ventosity.

    November 19, 2018