readiness
(ˈrɛdɪnɪs)
Also 4–6 redy-, redi-, (6 reddi-, Sc. radi-, 7 readdi-), 6–7 ready-.
[f. ready a. + -ness. In early use not easily distinguished from rediness.]
The quality, state or condition of being ready.
1. Promptness in voluntary action; prompt compliance, willingness, etc.
| c 1400 Beryn 3088 He gan to tell his tale with grete redynes. 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. Wks. (1876) 301 Consyderynge the redyness of mercy and pyte in our sauyour Ihesu. 1550 Crowley Last Trumpet 214 Refuse nothing that must be done, but do it wyth al redines. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §50. 278 That readinesse and forwardnesse that is in God to succour and support us. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. viii. 206 The women..spoke less, but with greater readiness than the men. 1822 Scott 13 Sept. in Fam. Lett. (1894) II. xviii. 155 The readiness of all the country to take arms was very singular. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 291 There is no great inclination or readiness on the part of mankind to be made as good..as possible. |
2. a. The quality of being prompt or quick in action, performance, expression, etc.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 80 The worldes redinesse In bodi bothe and in corage. 1530 Palsgr. 261/2 Redynesse in doyng of a thyng, practique. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 401 Beeing too too curious in imitations, [he] marreth the readinesse of his naturall inuention. 1615 W. Lawson Country Housew. Gard. (1626) 27 Let your graffe haue three or foure eyes, for readinesse to put forth. 1718 Freethinker No. 72. 119 The Readiness and Faithfulness of the Memory is, likewise, very wonderful. 1742 Fielding J. Andrews ii. x, This fellow..had a readiness at improving any accident. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xxii, His readiness in the French tongue, which he had spoken in his early youth. |
b. The quickness or facility with which something is done.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. ix. 12 [He] caused with a marueilous readinesse a forte to be made. 1662 Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion, That he may with the more readiness and decency break the bread. 1781 Cowper Expost. 312 Thou canst not read with readiness and ease Providence adverse in events like these? 1805 Med. Jrnl. XIV. 247 The readiness with which the finger passed..is not to be conceived but by those who had an opportunity of examining. |
3. A state of preparation: † a. With indef. article, in phr. in (rarely on, into) a readiness. (Common in 16–17th c., after to be, get, have, put, set, etc.) Obs.
| 1511 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 7 Alwaye in a redynesse to set forth whan they woll. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclxxix. 419 The erle of Armynahe and the lorde Dalbre,..made their people to be on a redynesse to kepe and defende their countreis. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. vi. (1628) 175 Caused his shipping to bee made in a readiness at S. Valeries. 1647 May Hist. Parl. iii. i. 14 That the Trayned Bands..should be put into a readinesse. 1723 Blackmore Hist. Conspir. agst. K. William 56 Captain Counter..said, they must be sure to be all in a readiness the next Morning. |
b. So without article, in phr. in readiness.
| 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §12 The yoman of the chaundrie..shall..haue in rediness seared clothes, sufficient for the surgeon. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Pref., Wks. (1653) 19 Such necessaries as by the ship Barbers are fit to be had in readinesse. 1644 Vicars God in Mount 186 That the trained-bands in and about London might be put in readinesse. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 60 She would wait with some Impatience..and any Hour should find her in Readiness. 1820 Keats Isabel. xxiv, He went in haste, to get in readiness. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxvi. 654 He sent orders that she [the ship] should continue to lie in readiness for another night or two. |
4. a. The condition or fact of being ready or fully prepared. rare.
| 1548 Thomas Ital. Dict., Concio, the dressyng, redinesse, or arraie. 1565 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 399 Anent the reddines of his hous at the King and Quenis Majesteis commandiment. 1612 Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 39 Is not a perfect readiness in the Verb Sum, as necessary as in any other of the Verbs? yes, and more also. 1638 Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (1861) I. 200 We heard nought bot of all England's arming, at least of the readyness of six or seven thousand great horse. |
b. Psychol. The stage of physiological or developmental maturity at which an organism is able to take in new learning with ease. Also attrib.
| 1948 E. R. Hilgard Theories of Learning ii. 22 There is another kind of readiness familiar to educators. This is illustrated by the use of such a term as ‘reading readiness’ to refer to the child's reaching a maturity level appropriate to the beginning of reading. 1956 H. C. Lindgren Educ. Psychol. ix. 236 Many schools postpone the teaching of reading for first-graders who do not demonstrate ‘reading readiness’ on standardized tests. 1967 J. C. Nunnally Psychometric Theory iii. 77 In schools, predictive validity is at issue in measures of ‘readiness’. 1976 Woman's Day (U.S.) Nov. 58/2 Clare Pederson..takes a particularly dim view of readiness tests... ‘Why don't school systems take the money they waste on readiness tests and spend it on books instead?’ 1977 P. R. Ammon in Hom & Robinson Psychol. Processes in Early Educ. vii. 184 The question of readiness pertains not only to how children can learn, but also to what they can learn. |
† 5. A thing or arrangement ready for use; ready use, convenience. Obs. rare.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xxiii. 42 The whiche shall be a great redynesse many yeres hereafter. c 1591 in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 77 Out of w{supc}{suph} booke for your Lordship's readines there is hereunto noted certen places offensive. |