loathness, a.
(ˈləʊθnɪs)
[f. loath a. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being loath.
† 1. In various senses of loath a.: Harmfulness, enmity; unpleasantness. Obs.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 95 He wes dreihninde on þissere worlde..mid nane laðnesse and mid sibsumnesse. a 1225 Ancr. R. 310 He..haueð..loðnesse of ham alle, as Ieremie witneð: Omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2949 It ledis vnto laithnes and vnlefe werkes. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 1229/1 You tel me the lothnes of the losse, and the comfort of the keeping. |
2. Reluctance; disinclination. Const. to with inf.; rarely of with gerund.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26589 And tell þi sins ilkan bi nam, for lathnes leue þou noght, ne scam. c 1528 Hen. VIII in Fiddes Wolsey (1726) ii. 140 The other shall declare and shew the loathnes that is in him..to be displeased. 1529 Sir T. More Suppl. Souls ii. Wks. 316/2 Diuers doctours allege diuers causes of his heauines and lothnes at y{supt} time to depart & die. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 130 The faire soule her selfe Waigh'd betweene loathnesse and obedience. 1616 Hayward Sanct. Troub. Soul i. i. (1620) 16 How doth my resolution sticke betweene loathnesse and necessitie? 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 545 A loathnes of running to close without clearnes. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. li. 547 The negligence or lothness of the Bishop, to prosecute them. |