bless 
If I do well I shall be blessed, whether any bless me or 
not. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 17. 
7. To favor (with); make happy or fortunate 
by some specified means: as, blessed with a 
good constitution ; blessed with filial children. 
You will to your lute, I heard you could touch it cun- 
ningly ; pray bless my ears a little. 
Shirley, Witty Fair One, i. S. 
Mrs. Bull . . . blessed John with three daughters. 
Arbuthnot, John Bull (1765), p. 30. (N. E. D.) 
8. To praise or extol (a) as holy or worthy of 
reverence, or (b) as the giver of benefits ; ex- 
tol or glorify with thankful acknowledgment 
of benefits received. 
Bless the Lord, O my soul : and all that is within me, 
bless His holy name. Ps. ciii. 1. 
I am content with this, and bless my fortune. 
Fletcher, Wlldgoose Chase, iii. 1. 
9. To esteem or account happy; congratulate ; 
felicitate : used reflexively. 
The nations shall bless themselves in him. Jer. iv. 2. 
Bless not thyself only that thou wert born in Athens. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. 35. 
[Often used in exclamations with various shades of mean- 
ing departing more or less widely from the literal sense : 
as, God blesx me ! bless you ! bless the mark ! etc.] God 
bless the mark. See mart. Not to have a penny to 
bless one's self with, to be penniless : in allusion to the 
cross on the silver penny (cf. Ger. Kreuzer), or to the prac- 
tice of crossing the palm with a piece of silver. N. E. D. 
To be blessed, a euphemism for to be damned: as, I'm 
Weisedifhedidn'trunaway; I'm blessed it I know. [Slang.] 
I'm blessed if I don't expect the cur back to-morrow 
morning. ilarryat, Snarleyyow, II. xi. 
An emphatic and earnest desire to be blessed if she 
would. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xiii. 
To bless one's self. () To felicitate one's self ; exult. 
(6) To ejaculate "Bless me," "God bless me," or the like. 
To bless one's stars, to congratulate or felicitate one's 
self. 
bless 2 t (bles), v. t. and i. [< ME. blessen, blyssen, 
blechen, strike, wound, < OF. blecier, blechier, 
F. blesser, wound, injure; of uncertain origin, 
perhaps < MHG. ze-bletzen, cut to pieces, < ze-, 
Gr. zer- (= AS. to-, E. to- 2 ), apart, + bletz, blez, 
OHG. bletz, a patch, a piece.] 1. To wound; 
hurt ; beat ; thump. Skelton. 2. [Appar. a de- 
flection of sense 1. Some fancy that it refers 
to "the old rite of blessing a field by directing 
the hands to all parts of it" (see btess 1 ).] To 
wave; brandish. 
He pi-iked in formest 
& blessed so with his brigt bront aboute in eche side 
That what rink so he raugt he ros never after. 
William of Palerne, 1. 1191. 
His sparkling blade about his head he blest. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 22. 
blessbok, n. See blesbok. 
blessed (bles'ed or blest; as pret. and pp. com- 
monly pronounced blest, and often so written), 
p. a. [Pp. of bless 1 .'] 1. Consecrated; holy: as, 
the blessed sacrament. 
I ... dipped my finger in the blessed water. 
Marryat, Phantom Ship, i. (N. E. D.) 
2. Worthy of adoration : as, the blessed Trinity. 
run, prevent them with thy humble ode, 
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet. 
Milton, Nativity, 1. 26. 
Jesus, the Christ of God, 
The Father's blessed Son. 
Bonar, Hymns of Faith and Hope. 
8. Enjoying supreme happiness or felicity; 
favored with blessings ; highly favored ; happy ; 
fortunate : as, "England's blessed shore," Shak., 
2 Hen. VI., iii. 2; the blessedest of mortals. 
The days are coming in the which they shall say, Blessed 
are the barren. Luke xxiii. 29. 
Farewell, lady; 
Happy and blessed lady, goodness keep you ! 
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iv. 1. 
Man never Is, but always To be, blest. 
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 96. 
Specifically 4. Enjoying spiritual blessings 
and the favor of God; enjoying heavenly feU- 
city; beatified. 
Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. 
Mat. v. 7. 
Reverenc'd like a blessed saint. Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 
5. Fraught with or imparting blessings; be- 
stowing happiness, health, or prosperity. 
The quality of mercy . . . is twice bless' d; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. 
Shak.,M. of V., iv. 1. 
Thou blessed star, I thank thee for thy light. 
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2. 
6. Bringing happiness; pleasurable; joyful: 
as, a most blessed time; "a blessed sight to 
see'Tepys, Diary, May 23, 1660. 7. Endowed 
with or possessing healing virtues. 
I have . . . made familiar 
To me and to my aid the bless'd infusions 
That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones. 
Shak,, Pericles, iii. 2. 
586 
8. By euphemism: Cursed; damned; con- 
founded : a term of mitigated objurgation, and 
often merely emphatic without objurgation: 
as, the blessed thing gave way ; our blessed sys- 
tem of caucusing; he lost every blessed cent he 
had. Blessed bell. See belli. Blessed thistle. See 
thistle. Tne blessed, the saints in heaven ; the beatified 
saints. 
The state also of the blessed in Paradise, though never 
so perfect, is not therefore left without discipline. 
Milton, Church-Government, i. 1. 
blessed-herb (bles'ed-erb), n. [A tr. of ML. 
lierba benedicta, > E. herb-bennet.] The com- 
mon European avens, Geum urbanum. 
blessedly (bles'ed-li), adv. In a blessed man- 
ner; happily; in a fortunate manner ; joyfully. 
One day we shall blessedly meet again never to depart. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii. 
blessedness (bles'ed-nes). n. [< blessed + -ness.] 
The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; 
heavenly joys ; the favor of God. 
His [Wolsey's] overthrow heap'd happiness upon him ; 
For then, and not till then, he felt himself, 
And found the blessedness of being little. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 
Nor lily, nor no glorious hyacinth, 
Are of that sweetness, whiteness, tenderness, 
Softness, and satisfying blessedness, 
As my Evanthe. Fletcher, Wife for a Mouth, i. 1. 
It is such an one as, being begun in grace, passes into 
glory, blessedness, and immortality. South. 
Single blessedness, the unmarried state ; celibacy. 
Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness. 
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 
=Syn. Felicity, Bliss, etc. (see happiness), joy, beatitude, 
blesser (bles'er), n. One who bestows a bless- 
ing ; one who blesses or causes to prosper. 
God, the giver of the gift, or blesser of the action. 
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, 4. 
blessfully (bles'ful-i), adv. [For blissfully, by 
confusion of bless 1 with bliss; so ME. blesful, 
and even blessedful, as variations of blissful. 
See bless 1 and bliss.] Blissfully. [Bare.] 
Of these many are blessfvlly incognizant of the opinion, 
its import, its history, and even its name. 
Sir W. Hamilton. 
blessfulness (bles'ful-nes), n. [For blissfulness. 
Cf. blessfully.] Blissfulness. Drant. [Bare.] 
blessing (bles'ing), n. [< ME. blessinge, bles- 
sunge, etc., < AS. bletsung, JZedsMnjr, verbal n. of 
bletsian, bless: see bless 1 .] 1. The act of in- 
voking or pronouncing happiness upon another 
or Others; benediction. Specifically, in the Latin 
and Greek churches, the act of pronouncing a benediction 
on the laity or inferior clergy, performed by a bishop or 
other priest In the Roman Catholic Church, the blessing 
is now given with all the fingers joined and extended, but 
formerly with 
the thumb and 
the first two fin- 
gers of the right 
hand extended 
and the two 
remaining fin- 
gers turned 
down. In the 
Greek Church, 
the thumb and 
the third finger 
of the same hand 
are joined, the 
other fingers be- 
ing extended. 
Some Eastern 
writers see in 
this position a 
symbol of the Greek sacred monogram of the name of 
Christ. In either case the three fingers (or two fingers 
and thumb) extended symbolize the Trinity. In the An- 
glican Church, either the former or the present Latin ges- 
ture is used. 
2. The form of words used in this invocation 
or declaration ; a (or the) benediction. 3. The 
bestowal of divine favor, or of hallowing, pro- 
tecting, or prospering influences: as, to ask 
God's blessing on any undertaking. 4. A tem- 
poral or spiritual benefit ; anything which makes 
happy or prosperous ; something to be thank- 
ful for; a boon or mercy: as, the blessings of 
life, of health, or of civilization; it is a bless- 
ing we fared so well. 
Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 772. 
5. Euphemistically, a curse ; a scolding ; a cas- 
tigation with words. To ask a blessing, to say grace 
before a meal. 
blest (blest), pret., pp., and jp. a. A contracted 
form of blessed. 
blet (blet), v. i. ; pret. and pp. bletted, ppr. blet- 
ting. [< F. blettir, become 'sleepy,' < blette, 
'sleepy,' applied to a pear (une poire blette), 
fern, of a disused masc. "blet, < OF. bkt, fern. 
blette, soft, mellow, overripe; cf. equiv. blcche, 
bleqne, applied also to an overripe apple (Cot- 
\ 
Latin Church (old use). Greek Church. 
Position of Hand in Blessing. 
blight 
grave), also blesse, blosse, blot (Roquefort). The 
relations of these forms, and their origin, are 
uncertain.] To become "sleepy" or internally 
decayed, as a pear which ripens after being 
picked. 
Its [the medlar's] fruit is hard, acid, and unfit for eating 
till it loses its green colour and becomes bletted. 
Encyc. Brit., XII. 271. 
bletcht, v. t. [The assibilated form of Week, 
v. Cf. blotch, black.'] To black; make black. 
Levins. 
bletcht, n. [The assibilated form of bleak, u. 
Cf. btetclt, v.] Blacking. Levins. 
blether 1 (bleTH'er), . i. Same as blaflier. 
blether 1 (bleTH'er), . Same as blather. 
Stringin 1 blethers up in rhyme. Burns, The Vision. 
blether 2 (bleTH'er), n. A Scotch form of blad- 
der. 
bletherskate (bleTH'er -skat), . Same as 
blatherskite. 
bletonism (blet'on-izm), . [So called from M. 
Bleton, a Frenchman living at the end of the 
18th century, who was said to have this fac- 
ulty.] The pretended faculty of perceiving 
and indicating subterraneous springs and cur- 
rents by peculiar sensations. 
bletonist (blet'on-ist), n. [See bletonism.'] One 
who possesses or pretends to possess the fac- 
ulty of bletonism. 
bletting (blet'ing), n. [Verbal n. of blet, v.] 
The slow internal decay or "sleepiness" that 
takes place in some fruits, as apples and pears, 
after they are gathered. Lindley. 
bleu-de-roi (ble'de-rwo'), n. [P., king's blue: 
bleu (see blue) ; de, < L. de, of ; roi, king : see 
roy."] In ceram., the name given to the cobalt- 
blue color in European porcelain, first pro- 
duced in Sevres. It is sometimes uniform, and some- 
times mottled or marbled. It was one of the flrst colors 
used in European porcelain decoration. 
blevet, v. t. A Middle English contraction of 
beleave. 
blew 1 , blew 2 (bio). Preterit of blow 1 , blow%. 
blew 3 t, a- See blue. 
blewart (ble'wart), . [So. Cf. blawort.] In 
Scotland, the germander speedwell, Veronica 
Chamaidrys. 
blewits (blo'its), n. [Prob. same as bluets, pi. 
of bluet, a name applied to several different 
flowers.] The popular name of Agaricus perso- 
natus, an edible purplish mushroom common in 
meadows in autumn. 
bleymet, . [< F. bleime, of same sense, re- 
ferred by some to bUtne, formerly blaime, OF. 
bleme, blesme, pale: see blemish.'] An inflam- 
mation in the foot of a horse, between the sole 
and the bone. Bradley. 
bleynt, An obsolete spelling of blain. 
bleyntet. An obsolete preterit of blench 1 . 
Therwithal he bleynte and cryede, A ! 
Chawer, Knight's Tale, L 220. 
bliandt, . See bleaunt. 
bliaust, bliautt, n. See bleaunt. 
blickH, v. i. [In mod. E. appar. only in dial. 
blickent, shining, bright, orig. (as in 2d extract 
below) ppr. of blick; (a) < ME. blikken, bKkien, 
bltken,< AS.'blician = MD. blicken, shine, gleam, 
D. blikken, twinkle, turn pale, = MLG. blicken, 
shine, gleam, = Q-. blickeu, glance, look, = Icel. 
blika, shine, gleam, = Sw. blicka, glance, look ; 
a weak verb, in ME. mixed with the orig. strong 
verb (6) bliken, < AS. blican (pret. bide, pp. bli- 
cen) = OS. blikan, shine, gleam, = OFries. blika 
(pp. bliken), appear, = MD. bliken, D. blijken, 
look, appear, = OHG. blihhan (in comp.), MHG. 
blichen, shine, gleam ; perhaps = OBulg. blis- 
kati, sparkle, = L. fulgere, shine, lighten, = 
Gr. faeyeiv, burn : see fulgent, phlegm, phlox. 
Hence ult. (from AS. blican) E. bleak 1 , bleach 1 , 
q. v. Cf. blink, blank.] To shine ; gleam. 
Bryst blykked the bem of the brode heuen. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 603. 
The blykkande belt he here theraboute. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (ed. Morris), 1. 2486. 
blick 1 (blik), . [< G. blick = D. Dan. blik, a 
look, glance, twinkle, flash, = MLG. blick, 
gleam, sheen; from the verb: see blick 1 , v.] 
The brightening or iridescence appearing on 
silver or gold at the end of the cupeling or re- 
fining process. Raymond, Mining Glossary. 
blick 2 (blik), n. [E. dial, var.of Wcfc2.] Same 
as bleak%. 
blickey, blickie (blik'i), . A small pail or 
bucket. [New Jersey.] 
blight (bllt), . [First certain instances in Cot- 
grave and Sherwood, 17th century; later also 
