a. Obs. [f. L. lucr-um + -(I)FEROUS.] Bringing gain; lucrative, profitable.
1648. Petty, Adv. to Hartlib, 23. Schollers … would quickly help themselves by opening treasures with the Key of Lucriferous Inventions.
1669. Newton, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), II. 294. Being the most luciferous, and many times lucriferous experiments too in philosophy.
1707. Sloane, Jamaica, I. 53. Those from Angola run away from their masters,… which is no lucriferous experiment, for on hard usage they kill themselves.
Hence † Lucriferousness, the quality of being lucriferous or profitable.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., I. ii. 45. If we impartially consider the Lucriferousness … of the properties of Things, and their Medical Virtues, we shall find, That [etc.].
