Also 5 bettirnes. [f. BETTER a. + -NESS.]
1. The quality of being better, having more good qualities, or excelling; superiority.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter li[i]. 5. Þou loved ivelnes ovre betternes.
1492. Act. Dom. Conc., 247–8 (Jam.). The bettirnes of the said tercis [of land].
1580. Sidney, Arcadia, 407. Your vnmatched betternesse.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 305. There is no betternesse or precedence of one place aboue another for the administration of holy things.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, II. Comm. (1857), 56.
1856. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., III. IV. x. § 4. An infinity of Betterness above other human effort.
b. spec. Fineness of the precious metals beyond the standard.
c. 1530. in Gutch, Coll. Cur., II. 287. Item for the betternes of the golde that went to the same Rings—iiijs.
1820. G. C. Carey, Funds, 99. If gold or silver be finer than standard, the difference is termed betterness by the trade; and if worse than standard, worseness.
2. Improvement, amendment, betterment. dial.
1864. Atkinson, Whitby Gloss, s.v. Betterness … As for my ailment I find no betterness in it.
