blessed, blest, ppl. a.
(ˈblɛsɪd, blɛst)
[f. bless v.1 + -ed. For the forms and pronunciation see note under bless v.]
1. Consecrated, hallowed, holy; consecrated by a religious rite or ceremony.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 25 Bledsed be þi name on us, sanctificetur nomen tuum. a 1300 Cursor M. 21677 Þat blisced lambs blod. 1504 Will in Ripon Ch. Acts 295 Afore the blissed rode. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 95 A proclamacion for the blyssyd sacrament. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 177 Mariage is ane blessit band. 1688 Stradling Serm. 195 Who receive him worthily in the Blessed Sacrament. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship i, I..dipped my finger in the blessed water. 1855 Browning Holy-Cross Day, Blessedest Thursday's the fat of the week. |
2. That is the object of adoring reverence, adorable, worthy to be blessed by men.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 47 Ihesu crist leue þe þurh his blescede nome. a 1240 Lofsong in Cott. Hom. 209 Þurh þine eadi flesche and þine iblescede blode. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. (Sel. Wks.) I. 131 Crist..in his blessid passioun. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 39 In his Godhede so blyschede. 1493 Petronylla 32 Oure blessyd lorde Iesu. 1556 Will in Ripon Ch. Acts 361 Our blissed lady saunte Mary. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. x. (1662) 119 Crying out, ‘Blessed God, what's here to do.’ 1868 Bp. Wordsworth Hymn, ‘Hark, the sound of Holy voices’, In the Beatific Vision Of the Blessed Trinity. |
3. a. Enjoying supreme felicity; happy, fortunate.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 47 ædie and blessede beon alle þeo þe ihereð. a 1300 Cursor M. 16655 Þe baraigne blisced sal man call. c 1400 Ave Regina (Turnb. 1843) 145 Heyle be tho bleste that euer bare chylde. c 1410 Hoccleve Mother of God 24 Among all wommen blessed thow be. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 466 Blessed bankrupt, that by love so thriveth. 1640 Howell Dodona's Gr. (1645) 69 The blessedst of mortal Wights. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter, Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 14 If to beauty is added temperance, then blessed art thou. |
b. Enjoying the bliss of heaven, beatified (cf. 5).
| 1475 Bk. Noblesse 3 Men..whiche as verray trew martirs and blissid souls have taken theire last ende by werre. 1572 R. H. Lavaterus' Ghostes (1596) 102 Cælum Empireum..which they say is the seate ordeined for the blissed sort. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 38 And there Ile rest, as after much turmoile A blessed soule doth in Elizium. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 136 The blessed Spirits elect. |
c. absol. The beatified saints; those in paradise.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 173 Cumeð ibledsede and under⁓foð eche lif. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (1869) 148 It were an vnconvenient thinge that the blessed shoulde not be at libertie to goo whether they woulde. 1675 Dryden Aurengz. i. i. 144 T' augment the number of the Bliss'd above. 1810 Southey Kehama xii. i, The joys which Heaven hath destin'd for the blest. 1863 Tennyson Wages 8 She desires no isles of the blest, no quiet seats of the just. |
4. a. Bringing, or accompanied by, blessing or happiness; pleasurable, joyful, blissful.
| 1458 MS. Christ's Hosp. Abingdon in Dom. Archit. III. 41 Another blissed besines is brigges to make. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 150 There foloweth the moost blessed effecte. 1660 Pepys Diary 23 May, The Royalle company by themselves [dined] in the coach, which was a blessed sight to see. 1679 Burnet Hist. Ref. Ep. Ded., The short, but blessed reign of king Edward. 1719 Young Busiris iv. i. (1757) 72, I have thought..thirst and toil Blest objects of ambition. 1863 Fr. Kemble Resid. Georgia 10 The blessed unconsciousness and ignorance of childhood. |
b. Of plants and herbs: Endowed with healing virtues; hence in plant names (= Lat. benedictus), as blessed rose, ? the peony; blessed thistle, Carduus benedictus; (erroneously) C. Marianus.
| 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 102 The stalk..beareth big and reddish flours, of some named the blessed Rose. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. lxx. 532 This Blessed Thistell is sowen in gardens. 1602 Metamorph. Tobacco (Collier) 44 The blessed Thistle and Herbe-grace Had lost their names, and been accounted base. 1608 Shakes. Per. iii. ii. 35 The blest infusions That dwell in vegetives. 1863 Prior Plant-n. 24 Blessed thistle..from the milk of the Virgin having fallen upon its leaves, as she nursed the infant Jesus. |
c. blessed word: (applied to) a long and high-sounding word, erroneously or ironically taken to be of great significance. Cf. Mesopotamia 2.
| 1910 N. & Q. 9th Ser. I. 458/2 That blessed word Mesopotamia. 1919 G. B. Shaw in Irish Statesman 25 Oct. 427/2 There is at first sight something to be said for the blessed word Devolution. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club x. 119 Complexes explain so much, like the blessed word hippopotamus. |
5. Euphemistically or ironically used for ‘cursed’ or the like.
| [cf. 1526 Bp. J. Clerk Let. 13 Sept. in Brewer Lett. & Pa. IV. 1109 Circa istud benedictum divortium.] 1806 Windham Let. in Speeches (1812) I. 77 As one of the happy consequences of our blessed system of printing debates, I am described to-day..as having talked a language directly the reverse of that which I did talk. 1865 tr. Spohr's Autobiog. I. 221 The whole of the members..must attend every blessed evening in the theatre. |
6. quasi-advb. Blessedly.
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xcii, Whats so blessed faire that feares no blot. |
7. Comb. as blessed-making.
| 1657 R. Carpenter Astrology Proved Harmless 36 The benign and blessed-making Aspect of God. |