American Dictionary of the English Language

COSTIVE, adjective [L, to cram, to stuff.]

1. Literally, crowded, stuffed, as the intestines; hence, bound in body; retaining fecal matter in the bowels, in a hard and dry state; having the excrements obstructed, or the motion of the bowels too slow.

2. Dry and hard; as costive clay. [Not used.]