/kon'steuh pay"sheuhn/ , n.
1. a condition of the bowels in which the feces are dry and hardened and evacuation is difficult and infrequent.
2. Informal. a state of slowing down, sluggishness, or inactivity.
3. Obs. the act of crowding anything into a smaller compass; condensation.
[ 1375-1425; late ME constipacioun ( constipation- (s. of constipatio ). See CONSTIPATE, -ION ]