incontinence

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

INCON'TINENCE INCON'TINENCY, noun [Latin incontinentia. See Continence.] 1. Want of restraint of the passions or appetites; free or uncontrolled indulgence of the passions or appetites, as of anger. 2. Want of restraint of the sexual appetite; free or illegal indulgence of lust; lewdness; used of either sex, but appropriately of the male sex. incontinence in men is the same as unchastity in women. 3. Among physicians, the inability of any of the animal organs to restrain discharges of their contents, so that the discharges are involuntary; Also, the involuntary discharge itself; as an incontinence of urine in diabetes.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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