Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
severities
plural of severity
Source: Wiktionary
Se*ver"i*ty, n.; pl. Severities. Etym: [L. severitas: cf. F. sévérité.]
Definition: The quality or state of being severe. Specifically: -- (a) Gravity or austerity; extreme strictness; rigor; harshness; as, the severity of a reprimand or a reproof; severity of discipline or government; severity of penalties. "Strict age, and sour severity." Milton. (b) The quality or power of distressing or paining; extreme degree; extremity; intensity; inclemency; as, the severity of pain or anguish; the severity of cold or heat; the severity of the winter. (c) Harshness; cruel treatment; sharpness of punishment; as, severity practiced on prisoners of war. (d) Exactness; rigorousness; strictness; as, the severity of a test. Confining myself to the severity of truth. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
14 June 2025
(noun) a member of a learned society; “he was elected a fellow of the American Physiological Association”
Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.