rifenessn.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 1887 A tale..Of þe ryfenes of þe rede gold ȝour region with-in.

1596 W. Perkins Disc. Conscience ii. 78 Those families in which there is rifenesse of othes, abandon all care of religion, and banish God out of their houses.

1608 Bp. J. Hall Epist. I. i. viii. 95 Hence I argue the rifenesse of vnkindnesse taken and pursued.

a1677 I. Barrow Several Serm. Evil-speaking (1678) iii. 105 The rifenesse of this practice..will be the cause of a general diffidence among men.

1710 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 382 The Rifeness of the small Pox.

1796 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. 1 404 The scarceness of long vowels, and the rifeness of short syllables in their language.

1841 Lancet 13 Feb. 737/1 At first the rifeness of this cause of rottenness was unfelt and overlooked.

1898 J. E. C. Bodley France II. i. i. 119 The rifeness of Parliamentary anarchy and scandal..helped to turn the revived sentiment into a cult and a passion.

1948 Public Opinion Q. 4 739/1 The author wants the reader to do the very thing which is responsible for the rifeness of rumors: to accept propositions for belief without adequate evidence.

1995 Courier-Mail (Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Sept. 25 Mr McDonald writes a weekly column which..deplores the rifeness of boring, dreary, pseudo art across the land.