Impotency

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Impotence \Im"po*tence\, Impotency \Im"po*ten*cy\, n. [L.
     impotenia inability, poverty, lack of moderation. See
     {Impotent}.]
     1. The quality or condition of being impotent; lack of
        strength or power, animal, intellectual, or moral;
        weakness; feebleness; inability; imbecility.


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Some were poor by impotency of nature; as young
              fatherless children, old decrepit persons, idiots,
              and cripples.                         --Hayward.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              O, impotence of mind in body strong!  --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Lack of self-restraint or self-control. [R.] --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law & Med.) Lack of procreative power; inability to
        copulate, or beget children; also, sometimes, sterility;
        barrenness; specifically, in males: the inability to
        achieve or sustain a penile erection; erectile
        dysfunction.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  impotency
       n 1: the quality of lacking strength or power; being weak and
            feeble [syn: {powerlessness}, {impotence}] [ant: {power},
             {power}]
       2: an inability (usually of a male) to copulate [syn: {impotence}]