COSTIVE

Retaining fecal matter in the bowels; having too slow a motion of the bowels; constipated.

Reserved; formal; close; cold. [Obs.] "A costive brain." Prior. "Costive of laughter." B. Jonson. You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, but without being costive. Lord Chesterfield.

Dry and hard; impermeable; unyielding. [Obs.] Clay in dry seasons is costive, hardening with the sun and wind. Mortimer.