Now rare. [f. WARM a. + -NESS.] The condition of being warm, warmth.
1. Moderate heat.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xi. 157. He wolde hine baðian on þam wlacum wætere … ac he ʓewat sona swa he ðæt wæter hrepode, and wearð seo wearmnys him awend to deaðe.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Melib., ¶ 2375. It may nat be seith he [Seneca] that where greet fyr hath longe tyme endured, that ther ne dwelleth som vapour of warmnesse.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 473. He fand a serpent slayn with hurdmen, & bon vnto a stokk; and he lowsid hur becauce sho was som-what on lyfe, & layd hur þer sho mot fele warmenes of þe son.
1526. Tindale, Jas. ii. 16. If … one of you saye vnto them: Departe in pence, God sende you warmnes and fode.
1607. Markham, Cavel., III. (1617), 11. Make your horse run the traine with good courage and liuelinesse, and so in his warmnesse trot him home.
1696. J. F., Merch. Ware-ho. laid open, 25. Which [sc. cotton goods] if any person made trial of, he would scarcely make use of any other by reason of their duration and warmness.
1785. T. Reid, Lett., Wks. (1846), 65/1. A comfortable warmness in the air.
fig. 1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, D iij b. The heate of some mens braines, and the warmnes of other mens bloud.
1681. D. Abraham, in Jrnl. Friends’ Hist. Soc. (1912), July, 141. Love … the course and motion whereof is in no wise to be stopped; Neither the warmness of Its stream refrigerated.
† 2. The state of being well to do. Obs.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 288. Þis warmnesse in welth with wy vppon erthe Myȝte not longe dure as doctourz us tellith.
1411–2. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3059. Al þi bysynesse Is for þi lucre, and þi cofres warmnesse.
† 3. Lukewarmness. Obs. rare.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc., xx. 127. The lothsom[n]es whiche God conceaueth of this newtralitie or warmnes [L. ex tepiditate].
4. Warmth of affection or devotion.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 150. The soule melteth whan it waxeth warme in deuocyon, whiche warmenesse,… is moche swete and pleasaunt.
1631. Eng. Primer Our Lady, 477. Make the sturdy for to bend, To the cold kind warmenes send.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. iii. I lo’ed your company; And ever had a warmness in my breast, That made ye dearer to me than the rest.
† 5. Heat of anger. Obs.
1563. Bp. Sandys, in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. 362. He saith, he is sory for those letters he wrote to me in his Warmeness.
