[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The state of being blessed, esp. with Divine favor; felicity; beatitude. Also concr.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17080. Qua mai tel þe teind part þe blisced-nes o þe!
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 124. We may not haue full the blessednes Of thi vysage nor of thi presence.
a. 1520. Myrr. Our Ladye, 73. Delyuered from the seuen dedly synes . and so to come vnto the seuen blessednesses.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. ii. 66. He … found the Blessednesse of being little.
1746. Hervey, Medit. (1753), II. 18. An Antepast of eternal Blessedness.
1823. Lamb, Elia (1860), 305. I have a quiet homefeeling of the blessedness of my condition.
b. Single blessedness: used by Shaks. to express ‘divine blessing accorded to a life of celibacy’; hence (more or less jocularly), the unmarried state.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 78. Earthlier happie is the Rose distil’d, Then that which withering on the virgin thorne, Growes, liues, and dies, in single blessednesse.
1823. Lamb, Elia (1860), 109. She was one whom single blessedness had soured.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 265/1. Single blessedness, as bachelors say, or single cursedness, as spinsters think.
c. Used as a title of honor. Cf. holiness.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, I. III. 94. The Popes began to usurp the Titles of Holiness, and Blessedness.
1848. Kingsley, Saint’s Trag., II. iii. 78.
| The Landgrave Lewis | |
| With humble greetings prays his blessedness | |
| To make these secular walls the spirit’s temple | |
| At least to-night. |
