pliantnessn.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 258^v Addres and serpentes..draweþ..forewarde by strengþe of þe sydes and plyauntnesse of þe body.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 255/2 Plyantnesse, ploiantevr.

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Lentitia, softenesse, pliantnesse, limbernesse.

c1620 F. Bacon Wks. (1857) III. 807 Three things are chiefly to be observed: the colour: the fragility or pliantness: the volatility or fixation.

1690 E. Warren Geologia (new ed.) ix. 190 Ready to give way to the lightest pressures, and by a forward pliantness, to fall into that Figure.

1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Orange Tree He will perceive when the Tree is dry, by handling its Leaves, if they feel soft,..and yet this Softness and Pliantness is not always a Sign of it.

1840–1 T. Moore Poet. Wks. III. 43 (note) The natives themselves, who are..very nimble, by reason of the pliantness of their muscles.

1854 E. C. Evans tr. T. J. Pelouze & E. Frémy Gen. Notions of Chem. 322 The earthy chlorides are especially used when it is desirable to preserve the pliantness of the wood.

1915 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 13 May The chief point in its attractiveness is the apparent pliantness which comes from soft but firm materials.

1578 A. Golding tr. Seneca Conc. Benefyting i. iv. f. 4^v He should haue made a lawe too liue by, so as neither vnaduised plyantnesse might bee setby vnder colour of gentlenesse: nor liberalitie..bee restreined by the same rule that goeth about too measure it.

1654 E. Gayton Pleasant Notes Don Quixot iv. iv. 197 Shee was gentle as a Lamb or a Cow..and this pliantnesse she had partly by Nature and partly by example of her mother.

1744 Eng. Nation Vindicated 46 His Czarish Majesty..shewed all the Pliantness that could be expected from him.

1861 Littell's Living Age 6 Apr. 7/1 So much cleverness, acuteness, kitten-like playfulness, and pliantness, cannot be obtained without injury, without sacrificing to them some graces.