rankness meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

rankness

noun

Etymology From Middle English rankenesse, equivalent to rank + -ness.

The quality of being rank, of having a repulsive or pungent odor.

1578, Raphael Holinshed et al., Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande, Volume I, Book 3, Chapter 1 “Of cattell kept for profit,” p. 222, […] the bowels of the beast are commonlie cast awaie because of their ranknesse […]
A match scratched and the sweet rankness of his corn-cob pipe drifted through the rooms.1933, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 34, in South Moon Under:

Exuberant or uncontrolled growth.

Tam’d us to Manners, when the Stage was rude;1706, John Dryden, “To my Dear Friend Mr. Congreve, On His Comedy, call’d, The Double-Dealer” in The Double Dealer by William Congreve, London: Jacob Tonson, Like Janus he the stubborn Soil manur’d, With Rules of Husbandry the Rankness cur’d
[…] a wilderness of weeds, to be sure, whose rankness far over-topped their neglected growth; yet, notwithstanding, evidence of a wealthy soil, that might yield luxuriant crops under other and favourable circumstances.1847, Emily Brontë, chapter 18, in Wuthering Heights:

1 more example

[…] briar and bramble shoots lay athwart one’s path with thorns like arrowheads often concealed in tangles of grass and willowherb and cow parsley, while underlying this rankness, like a reminder of a more elegant epoch, one was aware at times of Howard’s cultivation, rose and magnolia and peony continued to flower […]1970, Barry Unsworth, The Hide, New York: Norton, published 1997, page 139:

Obsolete Exuberance, excessiveness.

First Gentleman. God save you, sir! where have you been broiling? Third Gentleman. Among the crowd i’ the Abbey; where a finger Could not be wedged in more: I am stifled With the mere rankness of their joy.1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

Obsolete Insolence.

I will physic your rankness […]c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]: