Wealth

Forms: 3 welðe, welðhe, 3– 5 welþe, (4 weolthe, -þe), 3–7 welth, (3 weltht, 5 welt), 4–5 welþ, 4–6 Sc. velth, 6 Sc. veltht, 4–6 welthe, (6 wellthe), 6 wealthe, (7 waelth), 5– wealth. [ME. welþe, f. WELL adv. or WEAL sb.¹ + -TH, on the analogy of health. Parallel formations are MDu. weelde, welde (mod.Du. weelde), MLG. welede (mod.LG. welde), OHG. welida.]

  † 1.  The condition of being happy and prosperous; well-being. Obs. (exc. arch.). a. of a person.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 1550. And bad him [Esau] of his kindes louerd ben, In welðe and miȝt wurðinge ðen.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 755. Adam ȝode walkand in þat welth.

c. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1288, 1290. And in welthe men wald ay be; Bot parfit men, þat þair lif right ledes, Welthe of þe worlde ay flese and dredes. Ibid., 1293. Worldly welthe.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xiii. (1495), 197. Noo man hath more welth [L. nullus est felicior] than he that hath a gode woman to his wyfe.

c. 1450.  Merlin, xxxiii. 680. The grete love that I haue to you hath made me forsake alle other…, for with-oute yow haue I neither ioye ne welthe.

1470–85.  Malory, Arthur, IX. xxxvii. 400. But whanne sekenes toucheth a prysoners body thenne may a prysoner say al welthe is hym berafte.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. Pref. Aboue all thynges, wherby mans welthe ryseth, speciall laude and cause ought to be gyuen to historie.

1526.  Tindale, 1 Cor. x. 24. Lett no man seke his awne prophet: but lett every man seke his neghbours welthe.

1548–9.  (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, 122. To preserue thy people … in wealth, peace, and Godlynes. Ibid., 122 b. In all tyme of our tribulacion, in all tyme of our wealth. Ibid. (1559), Prayer for Queen, 12. Graunt her in health and wealthe longe to liue.

1592.  Soliman & Pers., V. i. 24. Vpon great affaires, Importuning health and wealth of Soliman, His highnes by me intreateth you.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., V. 249. I once did lend my bodie for thy wealth.

1596.  Fitz-Geffrey, Drake (1881), 104. And o long may we have them, and enioy These worthies to our wealth, and thine annoy.

  b.  Contrasted with woe, wandreth, care.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23981. Wede o welth wil i namar, Clething wil i me tak o care.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 2462. Welþe a-wey to wo þou [Fortune] strykes.

1357.  Lay Folks’ Catech. (T.), 433. Euenly to sofir the wele and the wa, Welthe or wandreth, whethir so betides.

a. 1529.  Skelton, Agst. Garnesche, iv. 124. Wherfore in welthe beware of woo.

a. 1542.  Wyatt, Epigr., xxiv. (1908), 51. I trust somtyme my harme may be my helth, Syns euery wo is ioynid to some welth.

a. 1566.  R. Edwards, Damon & Pithias (1571), H iij b. In wealth a double ioye, in woe a present stay, A sweete compagnion in eche state true Friendship is alway.

  c.  Of the world, a country, town, community, its people or members; hence (the common or public) welfare. Cf. COMMONWEALTH 1, PUBLIC a. 2 a.

1390.  Gower, Conf., Prol. 95. The world stod thanne in al his welthe: Tho was the lif of man in helthe, Tho was plente, tho was richesse.

1456.  Cov. Leet Bk., 290. Your own souerayn lorde & kynge … Whome God … preserve in good helthe … to this landys welthe!

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1610. Was neuir befor … Sic welth and pes at anys in the land.

1490.  Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900), II. 126. In divers matiers concernyng the welth of the same Town.

1521.  Cov. Leet Bk., 672. For the worship of the Cyte or the welthe of the Craft.

c. 1530.  L. Cox, Rhet. (1899), 46. That the maker of the lawe apply his hole studye to the welth of his subiectes.

1550.  J. Coke, Eng. & Fr. Heralds, § 153 (1877), 101. You enpeche the welth of marchaundise, pyllyng and robbyng the christen people.

1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, II. vi. (1895), 218. The inuentyon of feates, helpynge annye thynge to the aduantage and wealthe of lyffe.

1552.  Huloet, Wealthe of a comminaltye, bonum publicum, respublica.

1557.  North, trans. Gueuara’s Diall Pr., 454. He alwaies studied the wealth of his people.

1607.  in M. H. Peacock, Hist. Wakefield Grammar Sch., iv. (1892), 56. And when I shall knowe any thinge … that … toucheth the welth or good order of this schole, I will call my fellowe governours together.

  d.  An instance or kind of prosperity; a felicity, blessing. Chiefly pl.

  The pl. is also used as in 3 b.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 23432. O welthes mar mai na man tell, þan haf to will o weith þe well.

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1319. For angres mans lyf clenses, and proves, And welthes his lif trobles and droves.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 86. Whi is þis world biloued þat fals is & veyn, Siþen þat hise welþis ben so unserteyn?

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clxxxii. 88 b/2. They sayd howe the noble men of the realme of Fraunce, knyghtes and squyers shamed the realme, and that it shulde be a great welth to dystroy them all.

1548.  Patten, Exped. Scot., Pref. d j b. Whyche shoulde be greatly for the wealthes of vs bothe.

1560.  Irish Act 2 Eliz., c. 5 § 1. That it hath pleased God … to preserue and keepe for vs and our wealths your royall Maiestie … to raigne ouer vs.

a. 1652.  Brome, Queen & C., III. ii. And show The Elder sort how to improve Their Wealths by Neighbour-bood and Love.

  † e.  Used for: State, government (of a nation): = WEAL sb.¹ 3 b. Obs. rare.

a. 1682.  Sir T. Browne, Misc. Tracts, x. (1683), 160. Julius Cæsar … was once in mind to translate the Roman wealth unto it [Troy].

  † 2.  Spiritual well-being. Often in the testamentary phrase for the wealth of (one’s) soul. Obs.

c. 1400.  Lay-Folks Mass-bk., 30 (MS. F). And alle that hit hereth to here soules helthe, Thu [Lord] help hem with thi grace and thi welthe.

c. 1450.  Godstow Reg., 652. For the helthe of her owne sowle and the welthe of her husbond.

1463.  in Somerset Med. Wills (1901), 201. And where as there can nott be soo hasty recompense as nedid for the welth of my soule therefore [etc.].

1483.  Act 1 Rich. III., c. 2 § 1. Such memorialles as they had ordeigned to be done for the welth of their soules.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 18. It is all thynges that necessaryly is requyred to the welthe and helthe of mannes soule.

1537.  Instit. Christen Man, A 7. I Beleue … that this Christe … liued … and … suffred … for our sakes, and for our welthe.

1540.  Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1541), 76 b. She … procured both suche as was for the welthe of his soule, and prepared holsome meates for his body.

1553.  Primer, Prayer Adversity, V iij. As shal be moste metest and agreable to thyne honor and glory & to my moste perfecte wealth and euerlastynge saluacion.

  3.  Prosperity consisting in abundance of possessions; ‘worldly goods,’ valuable possessions, esp. in great abundance; riches, affluence.

  In mod. use wealth tends to be felt as a stronger term than riches.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 796. God gaf him ðor siluer and gold, And hird, and orf, and srud, and sat, Vn-achteled welðe he ðor bi-gat. Ibid., 2374. Or alle egiptes welðhe best Gaf he is breðere.

a. 1275.  Prov. Ælfred, 382. Werldes welþe to wurmes shal wurþien.

1352.  Minot, Poems, vii. 153. For here es welth inogh to win, To make vs riche for euermore.

a. 1400–50.  Wars Alex., 3582. Oure boundis ere barrayne and bare and þine full of welth.

1447.  Bokenham, Seyntys, St. Faith, 303. Alle these profers hye Of wurshyp welt or of dygnyte Wych dacyan hym hycht he set not a stye.

1508.  Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 394. Quhen he had warit all on me his welth, et his substance Me thoght his wit wes all went away with the laif.

1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 51. For all this warldis welth and gude, Can na thing ryche thy celsitude.

1570.  Levins, Manip., 59/6. Welth, abundantia rerum.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 7. What art thou man … That … these rich heapes of wealth doest hide apart From the worldes eye?

1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., I. ii. 13. Iulia. What think’st thou of the rich Mercatio? Lucetta. Well of his wealth; but of himselfe, so, so.

1639.  J. Clarke, Parœm., 99. Wealth makes worship.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 722. When Ægypt with Assyria strove in wealth and luxurie.

1701.  De Foe, Trueborn Eng., I. (1703), 13. Wealth, howsoever got, in England makes Lords of Mechanicks, Gentlemen of Rakes.

1746.  Francis, trans. Hor. Epist., II. ii. 45. He … sack’d a royal Fort, Replete with various Wealth.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VIII. xi. My female companion … at first remonstrated against it: but upon producing my wealth, she immediately consented.

1770.  Goldsm., Des. Vill., 62. His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), II. 577. There the man of wealth would be instructed really to practise virtue.

1809.  Campbell, Gertrude, II. xxiv. More than all the wealth that loads the breeze, When Coromandel’s ships return from Indian seas.

1833.  Tennyson, Lady Clara, 61. In glowing health, with boundless wealth.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, vii. Sole inheritor of the wealth of this rich old hunks.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 47. All this material wealth ard splendour was of course in official connexion with the Church.

  personified.  1712.  Budgell, Spect., No 506, ¶ 2. I have somewhere met with a Fable that made Wealth the Father of Love.

1813.  Byron, Giaour, 344. Alike must Wealth and Poverty Pass heedless and unheeded by.

  † b.  in plural, with reference to more than one possessor. Obs.

c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Golden Bk. M. Aurel. (1536), 157 b. Many leaue dyuers welthes that they haue in straunge landes, and lyue straitly, for to lyue in their owne land.

1574.  Mirr. Mag., Albanact, lxiii. To late you shall repent the act When all my realme, and all your wealthes are sackt.

1650.  R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low C. Wars, II. 48. He would be supported by the counsels and wealths of forrein Princes.

  † c.  pl. Things in which material riches consist; rich and costly goods or possessions; luxuries. Obs.

1352.  Minot, Poems, x. 11. In holl þan þai hided grete welthes,… Of gold and of siluer, of skarlet and grene.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 83. Þe more he wynneth and welt welthes & ricchesse.

c. 1400.  Sege Melayne, 801. The Bischoppe … pyghte Pauylyons with mekill pryde, With wyne & welthes at will.

c. 1450.  Holland, Howlat, 847. All thus thir hathillis in hall heirly remanit, With all welthis at wiss, and worschipe to vale.

1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, I. (1895), 106. Lawes, wherby all men shoulde haue and enioye equall portions of welthes and commodities.

  d.  Abundance of possessions or of valuable products, as characteristic of a people, country or region; the collective riches of a people or country.

  The phrase the wealth of nations had some currency before it was adopted by Adam Smith in the title of his famous work; but its early history is obscure.

1666.  Dryden, Ann. Mirab., To Duchess of York, 20. The Winds were hush’d, the Waves in ranks were cast…: Those, yet uncertain on whose Sails to blow, These, where the wealth of Nations ought to flow.

1667.  Milton, P. L., II. 2. High on a Throne of Royal State, which far Outshon the wealth of Ormus and of Ind.

a. 1687.  Petty, Pol. Anat. (1691), 35. ’Tis suppos’d that the Wealth of Ireland is about the ¹/₈ or ¹/₁₀ of that of England.

1737.  Pope, Hor. Epist., I. i. 126. Their Country’s wealth our mightier Misers drain.

1739.  C’tess Hartford, Corr. (1805), I. 152. He declared that he would rather live upon his small annuity all his days, than marry a woman he did not previously love, though she possessed the wealth of the Indies.

1752.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 202, ¶ 6. To be poor, in the epic language, is only not to command the wealth of nations.

1757.  [Burke], Europ. Settlem. Amer., VII. xxviii. 274. Our American colonies … pour in upon us a wealth of another kind … from their fisheries.

1776.  A. Smith (title), An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

1778.  Johnson, 17 April, in Boswell. As the Spanish proverb says, ‘He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.’

1820.  Byron, Mar. Fal., V. i. 14. A city which has open’d India’s wealth To Europe.

1858.  A. Trollope, Dr. Thorne, xxv. Not for all the wealth of India would he have given up his lamb to that young wolf.

  e.  said of a specific commodity as the chief source of a country’s riches. Also with defining word, indicating a particular source.

1645.  Sir R. Weston, Husb. Brabant (1652), 7. That Land is natural to bear Flax, which is called the Wealth of Flanders.

1854.  J. D. Whitney (title), The Metallic Wealth of the United States Described and Compared with that of other Countries.

  f.  fig.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 257. I freely told you all the wealth I had Ran in my vaines; I was a Gentleman. Ibid., III. v. 61. Yet more quarrelling with occasion, wilt thou shew the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant.

a. 1627.  Middleton, Witch, II. i. O honestie’s a rare wealth in a woman, It knowes no want.

1635–56.  Cowley, Davideis, IV. 488. To Help seems all his Power, his Wealth to Give; To do much Good his sole Prerogative.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 207. Beneath him … he views … To all delight of human sense expos’d … Nature’s whole wealth.

1675.  Dryden, Aurengz., III. (1676), 47. Whom Heav’n would bless, from Pomp it will remove, And make their wealth in privacy and Love.

1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., II. 158. Those who come last [in the Roll of Time], seem to enter with Advantage. They are born to the Wealth of Antiquity.

a. 1771.  Gray, Death Hoel, 9. He ask’d no heaps of hoarded gold; Alone in Nature’s wealth array’d, He ask’d and had the lovely maid.

1820.  Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 12. There is no time more … prolific of intellectual wealth.

1868.  T. T. Lynch, Rivulet, CXLIX. iii. (ed. 4).

  † g.  Condition with regard to riches or poverty; degree of wealthiness. Obs.

1607.  Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, I. ii. It shall then bee giuen out, that I’me a Gentlewoman of such a birth, such a wealth,… and so foorth.

1662.  Petty, Taxes & Contrib., 16. Ignorance of the Number, Trade, and Wealth of the people, is often the reason why the said people are needlesly troubled.

  4.  Economics. A collective term for those things the abundant possession of which (by a person or a community) constitutes riches, or ‘wealth’ in the popular sense.

  There has been much controversy among economists as to the precise extent of meaning in which the term should be used. The definition that has been most widely accepted is that of Mill (quot. 1848 below).

1821.  Torrens, Ess. Product. Wealth, i. 3. When we say, a man of wealth, the term implies quantity, and signifies an abundance of the comforts and luxuries of life. But when we say, agriculture is a source of wealth, the accessory idea of quantity is not implied, and the term comprises the products of agriculture, whether they be raised from one acre or from a million; whether they are capable of subsisting an individual, or a nation.

1825.  Bentham, Ration. Reward, 237. All wealth is either the spontaneous production of the earth, or the result of labour, employed in the cultivation of the earth or upon the materials which it yields.

1832.  Ht. Martineau, Life in Wilds, ii. 23. Whatever lives, or grows, or can be produced, that is necessary or useful, or agreeable to mankind, is wealth.

1848.  Mill, Pol. Econ., I. Prel. Rem. 8. Money, being the instrument of an important public and privale purpose, is rightly regarded as wealth; but everything else which serves any human purpose, and which nature does not afford gratuitously, is wealth also. Ibid., 9. To an individual, anything is wealth, which, though useless in itself, enables him to claim from others a part of their stock of things useful or pleasant. Take for instance, a mortgage of a thousand pounds on a landed estate. This is wealth to the person to whom it brings in a revenue…. But it is not wealth to the country; if the engagement were annulled, the country would be neither poorer nor richer. Ibid., 10. Wealth, then, may be defined, all useful or agreeable things which possess exchangeable value; or in other words, all useful or agreeable things except those which can be obtained, in the quantity desired, without labour or sacrifice.

1856.  Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. i. 87. An attempt … was made to bring the production and distribution of wealth under the moral rule of right and wrong.

1883.  H. Sidgwick, Pol. Econ., I. iii. 7. The wealth of any individual is considered to include all useful things—whether material things, as food, clothes, houses, &c., or immaterial things as debts, patents, copyrights, &c.—which … admit of being sold at a certain price. This aggregate is suitably measured by its exchange value; the common standard of value, money, being taken for convenience’ sake.

1891.  Scrivener, Fields & Cities, xx. 194. The Companies Acts have not, and will not, create wealth; it is not the function of law to create wealth,—only to regulate its distribution. Wealth is created … by labour.

1920.  A. W. Kirkaldy, Wealth, 15–6. If this definition [Mill’s] be accepted, the importance of abundance disappears. Wealth may be a very small as well as a very big thing. A single pin … has exchange value, it is useful, and is therefore wealth…. So is a motor-car or a fine yacht or an Atlantic liner.

  5.  Plenty, abundance, profusion (of what is specified). Also, the condition of abounding in something valuable.

1796.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 42. The firth … quhair gret welth of Salmonte.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xxxiii. And they hae walth o’ beef, that’s ae thing certain, for here’s a raw hide that has been about the hurdies o’ a stot not half an hour syne.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., Concl. xxvi. Again the feast, the speech,… the wealth Of words and wit.

1858.  Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872), I. 48. This wealth of silver, gold, and gems, that adorned the shrines of the saints.

1874.  Sayce, Compar. Philol., vi. 217. The manifold wealth of articulate speech.

1882.  Rhys, Celtic Britain, i. 21. There is no reason, however, to suppose that the great wealth of the country in iron ore had been discovered by Cæsar’s time.

1894.  Conan Doyle, Mem. Sherlock Holmes, 218. With … dark Italian eyes, and a wealth of deep black hair.

  6.  attrib. and Comb. (chiefly objective and obj. gen.), as wealth-acquiring, -bearing, -centre, -creation, -creator, -despising, -getting, -maker, -monger, -owner, -producing, -store, -worship, -yield, -yielding; instrumental, as wealth-elated, -encumbered, -fraught; † wealth boastingly adv., in a way that shows pride in wealth.

1879.  Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, xviii. 346. The predominance of *wealth-acquiring immigrants.

1865.  J. Macgregor, Rob Roy on Baltic (1867), 269. The mighty, *wealth-bearing Thames.

1593.  Nashe, Christ’s T., T 3. Nothing about them but is *wealth-boastingly & elaborately beautified.

1890.  O. Crawfurd, Rount Calend. Portugal, 19. The first stronghold and *wealth-centre of this ancient kingdom.

1892.  F. W. Bain (title), On the Principle of *Wealth-creation.

1740.  J. Dyer, Ruins of Rome, 330. Th’ humble roof … Of good Evander, *wealth-despising king.

1801.  Mrs. Robinson, Sylphid, II. 149 (Jod.). The report … awakened the jealousy or the *wealth-elated baronet.

1844.  Ld. Leigh, Walks in Country, 79. A *wealth-encumber’d Peer.

1798.  B. Johnson, Orig. Poems, 30. *Wealth-fraught keels in safety cut the seas.

1904.  R. T. Ely & G. R. Wicker, Elem. Princ. Economics, 3. Economics is the science (1) which treats of those social phenomena that are due to the *wealth-getting and wealth-using activities of man.

1899.  Daily Tel., 11 Oct., 8/7. The *wealth-makers whom he always hated.

1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 396. These are sawcy Truths to obtrude on the Power-mongers, *Wealth-mongers, and Pleasure-mongers of the World.

a. 1665.  J. Goodwin, Being filled with the Spirit, xvii. (1670), 476. If the Question should be put to all rich Wealth-mongers and Honour-mongers.

1896.  Daily Tel., 3 Feb., 4/7. The vast *wealth-producing industries of the Rand.

1891.  Meredith, Invect. Achilles, Poet. Wks. (1912), 554. Thou mayest gather here plunder and *wealth-store.

1850.  Grote, Greece, II. lxvii. VIII. 540. Plato was not the man to preach king-worship, or *wealth-worship, as social or political remedies.

1877.  Gladstone, Glean. (1879), I. 168. The wealth-worship which marks and deforms our time.

1917.  Moreton Frewen, in 19th Cent., Dec., 1237. Its [sc. the ocean’s] *wealth-yield appears to be beyond words bounteous.

1888.  Clodd, Creation, iv. 30. Rich as are igneous rocks in *wealth-yielding mineral veins and ores, they are … destitute of fossils.