acrasy

Obs.


[ad. med.L. acrasia, which seems to confuse Gr. 2jq‰r¬a ill-temperature, badly-mixed quality (f. 4jq‰so| unmixed, untempered, intemperate) applied by Hippocr. to meats, with 2jqŠr¬a impotence, want of self-command (f. 2jqŠs–| powerless, without authority, without self-command, incontinent).]
Irregularity, disorder, intemperance. In Spenser's Faerie Queene, intemperance or incontinence personified as an enchantress.

1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii, motto, Guyon+Doth overthrow the Bower of Blis, And Acrasy defeat. 1617 S. D[aniel] Hist. Eng. (1617) 156 A time [reign of Henry III] that hath yeelded notes of great varietie with many examples of acrasie, and diseased State, bred both by the inequality, of this Princes manners, and the impatience of a stubborne Nobility. 1707 Phillips, Acrasia, Indisposition, Disorder. [Also as in Bailey.] 1731 Bailey, vol. II. Acrasy (with Physicians) the Excess or Predominancy of one Quality above another in Mixture, or in the Constitution of a Human Body. 1780 Cornish Life of Firmin 84 (T.) A little prone to anger, but never excessive in it, either as to measure or time; which acrasies+occasion great uneasiness. 1818 Todd, Acrasy, Excess, irregularity.

OED2