Forms: 1 blíðs, blíds, bliss, blis; 3–7 blisse, 4–6 blysse, blis, 6– bliss; occas. 4–7 blesse, bless. [OE. blíðs (acc. blíðse) str. fem. = OS. blîdsea, blîtzea, blîzza:—OTeut. type *blîþsjâ- f. *blîþi-s, Goth. bleiþs, OS. blîthi, OE. blíðe blithe, joyous + suffix -sjâ-, standing, after dentals, for original -tjâ (cf. L. lætitia). Goth. has, instead, the parallel form bleiþ-ei:—OTeut. *blîþ-în-. In later OE. by assimilation and vowel-shortening blíðs became bliss, blis, ME. blisse: cf. OE. milds, milts (:—OTeut. *mild-sjâ- = *mild-tjâ-) mildness, clemency, ME. milze, milce, milse. The meaning of bliss and that of bless have mutually influenced each other since an early period; cf. BLESS v.1; confusion of spelling is frequent from the time of Wyclif to the 17th c. Hence the gradual tendency to withdraw bliss from earthly ‘blitheness’ to the beatitude of the blessed in heaven, or that which is likened to it.]
† 1. Blitheness of aspect toward others, kindness of manner; ‘light of one’s countenance,’ ‘smile.’ (Only in OE.)
a. 1000. Metr. Bœth., ii. 30. Hi me towendon heora bacu bitere and heora blisse from.
2. Blitheness; gladness; joy, delight, enjoyment: a. physical, social, mundane: passing at length into b.
971. Blickl. Hom., 3. Maria cende þone Drihten on blisse.
a. 1000. Cotton Psalm, l. 99 (Gr.). Sæle nu blidse me, bilewit dryhten.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 115. Hie weren swo blíðe þat hie ne mihten mid worde here blisse tellen.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 1013 (Trin.). Mony oþere blisses elles, Floures þat ful swete smelles.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 234. Two blessis ben,—blesse of þe soule and blisse of þe bodi.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man Law’s T., 1021. This glade folk to dyner they hem sette; In ioye and blisse at mete I lete hem dwelle.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 55. She lost alle worshipe, richesse, ese, and blysse.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 268. Tha rouch rillingis, of blis that war full bair.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. ii. 31. And all that Poets faine of Blisse and Ioy.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 508. These two Imparadis’t in one anothers arms … shall enjoy thir fill Of bliss on bliss.
1806. Wordsw., Ode Immortality, 86. Behold the Child among his new-born blisses.
1841. L. Hunt, Seer (1864), 54. He does not sufficiently sympathise with our towns and our blisses of Society.
b. Mental, ethereal, spiritual: perfect joy or felicity, supreme delight; blessedness. (Early instances difficult to separate from prec.)
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 15. Blisse and lisse ic sende.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 605. A land o lijf, o beld, and blis, Þe quilk man clepes paradis.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 142. To lyve evere in blis wiþouten peyne.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, F iij. The grete reame of blysse and glory.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. v. 64. The contrarie bringeth blisse, And is a patterne of Celestiall peace.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xxii. § 13. To them whose delight … is in the Law … that happiness and bliss belongeth.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Cypr. Grove, Wks. 31. O only blest, and Author of all bliss. Ibid., 26. All bless returning with the Lord of bliss.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 522. The sum of earthly bliss Which I enjoy.
1747. Gray, Ode Eton Coll. Where ignorance is bliss, ’Tis folly to be wise.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 62. May gather bliss, to see my fellows blest.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. xii. 141. The purest bliss was surely then thy dower.
c. esp. The perfect joy of heaven; the beatitude of departed souls. Hence, the place of bliss, paradise, heaven.
971. Blickl. Hom., 25. We maʓon … éce blisse ʓeearnian.
a. 1225. Juliana, 21. Ich schal bliðe bicumen to endelese blissen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17972. Fro helle to paradys þat blis.
c. 1384. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 344. He [the pope] is not blessid in þis lif, for blis falliþ to the toþir lyf.
1509. Hawes, Examp. Virt., i. 12. I wyll … brynge thy soule to blesse eterne.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. iii. 182. By the hope I haue of heauenly blisse.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 65. The soul is … wrapt up into an Elysium and paradise of blesse.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 607. Far other once beheld in bliss.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 301. The path to bliss abounds with many a snare.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 255. Any one who accepted them in the concrete and literal form prescribed by the church, would share infinite bliss.
d. concr. A cause of happiness, joy or delight.
a. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Spelm.), xxxi. 9 (Bosw.). Ðú eart blis min.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nonnes Pr. T., 346. Womman is mannes Ioye and al his blis.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., xcvii. 26. A wither’d violet is her bliss.
† 3. Glory. (Translating gloria and κλέος.) Obs.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 115. Quis est iste rex glorie? hwat is þis blissene king.
a. 1300. Cursor M., M. 8100. Þe king o blis.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, II. 363. Hercules is i-seide of heros þat is a man, and of cleos þat is blisse; as þey Hercules were to menynge a blisful man and glorious.
† 4. A bliss of birds: a blithe singing, a ‘choir.’
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems, 228. A blysse of bryddes me bad abyde, For cause there song mo then one.
5. Comb. a. objective, as bliss-giving, bliss-making adjs.; b. adverbial, as bliss-bright.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 309. This blesse-affording good.
1645. Bp. Hall, Content., 103. The blisse-making vision of God.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xiv. (1848), 147. The bliss-bright stars.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., II. xxvii. 184. The bliss-giving ‘yes.’
