[ad. L. benefactiōn-em, n. of action f. benefacĕre: see BENEFIT.]
1. A doing good, beneficence, kindly or generous action; a benefit or blessing.
a. 1662. Heylin, Laud (1668), 245. Marks of his Benefaction we find none, in places of his Breeding.
1728. Newton, Chronol. Amended, 15. For which Benefaction she [Ceres] was Deified after death.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ (1878), 442. What it [divine goodness] will do in the way of positive benefaction.
2. esp. The bestowal of money for a charitable purpose; a grant, gift, bounty, endowment.
1674. Scheffer’s Lapland, viii. 28. Retaining to the crown the superintendency of the benefaction.
1779. Johnson, Milton, in L. P. (1816), 132. This was the greatest benefaction that Paradise Lost ever procured the author’s descendants.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., iv. (1857), 58. She was liberal in her benefactions to convents and colleges.
