COSTIVE, adjective [L, to cram, to stuff.] 1. Literally, crowded, stuffed, as the intestines; hence, bound in body; retaining fecal matter in the bowels, in a hard and dry state; having the excrements obstructed, or the motion of the bowels too slow. 2. Dry and hard; as costive clay. [Not used.]
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI