rancidityn.

1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana 243 Fat, or Luscious, which sollicites the Gusts neither with heat, nor acrimony..is remarkable in Oyle Olive, Oyle of sweet Almonds, Wallnuts, in Marrow, Butter, and the Fats of Beasts, which have no rancidity.

1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 195 To smell out the rancidity, the ill savour of their intentions.

1726 R. Towne Treat. Dis. W.-Indies i. 48 The Almonds before they arrive at Barbadoes generally contract to disagreeable Harshness and Rancidity.

1786 J. M. Adair Med. Cautions iii. i. 81 We know from experiments, that pure oil is not susceptible of rancidity, but that this quality is owing to the mucus which abounds more or less in butter and all oils.

1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 18 Smoke dissolves the gelatine, and disposes the meat to rancidity.

1869 E. A. Parkes Man. Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 240 The rancidity of butter is chiefly owing to changes in the fat.

1918 C. A. Mitchell Edible Oils & Fats i. 7 The rancidity of a fat does not stand in any relationship to the amount of free fatty acid.

1954 I. Asimov Chemicals of Life vii. 98 The East Asian peasants, in order to avoid rancidity, get rid of the outer coat by ‘polishing’ the rice.

1994 H. Bloom Western Canon iii. xv. 354 In Iago and Edmund, as in Hedda, there is a playfulness gone rancid, and insofar as the sublime Falstaff yields to a certain rancidity, a trollishness appears in him also.

2004 Observer 16 May (Food Monthly Suppl.) 22/3 Some of the complaints concern..antioxidants used to prevent rancidity in oils.