docity

Origin doubtful; supposed to be an alteration of docility.^[1] Possibly from doc-, the stem of Latin doceō (“I teach”) +‎ -ity.

docity (uncountable)

1. (dialectal, obsolete) Docility; quickness of comprehension.
   • 1686 (first performance), A[phra] Behn, The Luckey Chance, or An Alderman’s Bargain. A Comedy. […], London: […] R. H[olt], for W. Canning, […], published 1687, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 16:

     Very well Sirrah, they dy’d in an honourable Calling—but hark’y’ Rag———I have Buſineſs———very earneſt Buſineſs abroad this Evening, now were you a Raſcal of Docity, you wou’d invent a way———to get home my laſt Suit that was laid in Lavender———with the Appurtenances thereunto belonging, as Perriwig, Cravat———and———ſo forth———

   • [1787, Francis Grose, “Docity”, in A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions, London: S[amuel] Hooper, […], →OCLC, signature D4, recto:

     Docity. Docility, quick comprehenſion. Glouc[estershire].]

• “docity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• cytoid, dyotic