ppl. a. [f. BLESS v.1 + -ED. For the forms and pronunciation see note under BLESS v.]
1. Consecrated, hallowed, holy; consecrated by a religious rite or ceremony.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 25. Bledsed be þi name on us, sanctificetur nomen tuum.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21677. Þat blisced lambs blod.
1504. Will, in Ripon Ch. Acts, 295. Afore the blissed rode.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 95. A proclamacion for the blyssyd sacrament.
1578. Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868), 177. Mariage is ane blessit band.
a. 1688. G. Stradling, Serm. & Disc. (1692), 195. Who receive him worthily in the Blessed Sacrament.
1839. Marryat, Phant. Ship, i. I … dipped my finger in the blessed water.
1855. Browning, Holy Cross Day. Blessedest Thursday’s the fat of the week.
2. That is the object of adoring reverence, adorable, worthy to be blessed by men.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 47. Ihesu crist leue þe þurh his blescede nome.
a. 1240. Lofsong, in Cott. Hom., 209. Þurh þine eadi flesche and þine iblescede blode.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm. (Sel. Wks.), I. 131. Crist … in his blessid passioun.
a. 1400. Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867), 39. In his Godhede so blyschede.
1493. Petronylla, 32. Oure blessyd lorde Iesu.
1556. Will, in Ripon Ch. Acts, 361. Our blissed lady saunte Mary.
1656. H. More, Antid. Ath., III. x. (1662), 119. Crying out, ‘Blessed God, what’s here to do.’
1868. Bp. Wordsworth, Hymn, ‘Hark, the sound of Holy voices.’ In the Beatific Vision of the Blessed Trinity.
3. Enjoying supreme felicity; happy, fortunate.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 47. Ædie and blessede beon alle þeo þe ihereð.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16655. Þe baraigne blisced sal man call.
c. 1400. Ave Regina (Turnb., 1843), 145. Heyle be tho bleste that euer bare chylde.
c. 1410. Occleve, Mother of God, 24. Among all wommen blessed thow be.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 466. Blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth.
1640. Howell, Dodona’s Gr. (1645), 69. The blessedst of mortal Wights.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter. Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 14. If to beauty is added temperance, then blessed art thou.
b. Enjoying the bliss of heaven, beatified (cf. 5).
1475. Bk. Noblesse, 3. Men … whiche as verray trew martirs and blissid souls have taken theire last ende by werre.
1572. R. H., Lavaterus’ Ghostes (1596), 102. Cælum Empireum … which they say is the seate ordeined for the blissed sort.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. vii. 38. And there Ile rest, as after much turmoile A blessed soule doth in Elizium.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 136. The blessed Spirits elect.
c. absol. The beatified saints; those in paradise.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 173. Cumeð ibledsede and underfoð eche lif.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop. (1869), 148. It were an vnconvenient thinge that the blessed shoulde not be at libertie to goo whether they woulde.
1675. Dryden, Aurengz., I. i. 144. T’ augment the number of the Bliss’d above.
1810. Southey, Kehama, XII. i. The joys which Heaven hath destin’d for the blest.
1863. Tennyson, Wages, 8. She desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just.
4. Bringing, or accompanied by, blessing or happiness; pleasurable, joyful, blissful.
1458. MS. Christ’s Hosp. Abingdon, in Dom. Archit., III. 41. Another blissed besines is brigges to make.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 150. There foloweth the moost blessed effecte.
1660. Pepys, Diary, 23 May. The Royalle company by themselves [dined] in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see.
1679. Burnet, Hist. Ref., Ep. Ded. The short, but blessed reign of king Edward.
1719. Young, Busiris, IV. i. (1757), 72. I have thought … thirst and toil Blest objects of ambition.
1863. Fr. Kemble, Resid. Georgia, 10. The blessed unconsciousness and ignorance of childhood.
b. Of plants and herbs: Endowed with healing virtues; hence in plant names (= Lat. benedictus), as blessed rose, ? the peony; blessed thistle, Carduus benedictus; (erroneously) C. Marianus.
1563. Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 102. The stalk … beareth big and reddish flours, of some named the blessed Rose.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. lxx. 532. This Blessed Thistell is sowen in gardens.
1602. Metamorph. Tobacco (Collier), 44. The blessed Thistle and Herbe-grace Had lost their names, and been accounted base.
1608. Shaks., Per., III. ii. 35. The blest infusions That dwell in vegetives.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., 24. Blessed thistle … from the milk of the Virgin having fallen upon its leaves, as she nursed the infant Jesus.
5. Euphemistically or ironically used for ‘cursed’ or the like.
[cf. 1526. Bp. J. Clerk, Lett., 13 Sept., in Brewer, Lett. & Pa., IV. 1109. Circa istud benedictum divortium.]
1806. Windham, Lett., in Speeches (1812), I. 77–8. As one of the happy consequences of our blessed system of printing debates, I am described to-day, in one of the newspapers which I have seen, as having talked a language directly the reverse of that which I did talk.
1865. trans. Spohr’s Autobiog., I. 221. The whole of the members … must attend every blessed evening in the theatre.
6. quasi-advb. Blessedly.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xcii. Whats so blessed faire that feares no blot.
7. Comb. as blessed-making.
1657. R. Carpenter, Astrology Proved Harmless, 36. The benign and blessed-making Aspect of God.
