operosity

English

Etymology

From operose +‎ -ity, from Latin operositas.

Noun

operosity (uncountable)

1. Laboriousness.
   • 1648, J[oseph] Hall, chapter LXV, in Select Thoughts: Or, Choice Helps for a Pious Spirit. […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Brooke, […], published 1654, →OCLC, page 187:

     [T]here is a kinde of operoſity in ſin, in regard vvhereof ſinners are ſtiled, The vvorkers of iniquity: […]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Browning to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “operosity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)