1872, "full of color," from color (n.) + -ful. From 1876 in the figurative sense of "interesting." Related: Colorfully; colorfulness.

1829, "readableness," especially "quality that makes something pleasurable or interesting to read;" from readable + -ity.

"a talker," especially an agreeable or interesting one, 1836; see conversational + -ist. Conversationist was used from 1806 in the sense "a talker, one addicted to talking."

1787, of written material, "dull, distasteful," from un- (1) "not" + readable (adj.). Meaning "illegible" is from 1830, but is better left to illegible.

The illegible is not plain enough to be deciphered; the unreadable is not interesting enough to be perused. [Fowler]

alkaloid obtained from the leaves of the coca plant, 1874, from Modern Latin cocaine (1856), coined by Albert Niemann of Gottingen University from coca (from Quechua cuca) + chemical suffix -ine (2). A medical coinage, the drug was used 1870s as a local anaesthetic for eye surgery, etc. "It is interesting to note that although cocaine is pronounced as a disyllabic word it is trisyllabic in its formation" [Flood]. Cocainism "addiction to cocaine" is recorded by 1885.

"absent in mind, distracted from present reality by intellectual activity," 1640s, past-participle adjective from abstract (v.). Related: Abstractedly.

An absent man is one whose mind wanders unconsciously from his immediate surroundings, or from the topic which demands his attention; he may be thinking of little or nothing. An abstracted man is kept from what is present by thoughts and feelings so weighty or interesting that they engross his attention. [Century Dictionary]