ˈwoodness Obs. exc. dial. or arch.
Forms: see wood a.
[OE. wódnes: see wood a. and -ness.]
1. Mental derangement, insanity, mania, frenzy, lunacy, craziness: = madness 1.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 458 Þa ᵹeaxode se cyning Polimius be ðam witseocum menn, hu se apostol hine fram ðære wodnysse ahredde. 1382 Wyclif Acts xxvi. 24 Poul, thou maddist..; manye lettris turnen thee to woodnesse. 1493 H. Parker Dives & Pauper v. xviii. (W. de W. 1496) 220/1 Yf a man in his woodness & rauynge slee man & woman or childe. 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. iii. (1593) 72 Drunken woodnes wrought by wine. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. (1634) 238 Wee yet retayne in some parts of England the word wodnes for furiousnesse or madnesse. 1657 Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe 60 Their minds were struck with a kind of Woodnesse. 1803 W. S. Rose Amadis 128 Wrapt in imagin'd flames to woodness stung Deep in a roaring stream, she headlong sprung. |
2. Extravagant folly or recklessness; vehemence of passion or desire; wildness, infatuation. Cf. madness 2.
| c 1000 in Assmann Hom. (1889) 60/212 Þa sæt he..tælende þone hælend..His wodnys wearð ᵹewrecen swa þurh god. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1382 They callen loue a woodnesse or folye. 1387 [see wood a. 2 b]. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 76 A woode wisdom, and a wise woodenesse. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. viii. 90 Here is lufe with-outen meyknes, wodnes ful likynge. 1484 Caxton Fables of Auian vi, Now perceyue I wel thy foly and grete wodenesse. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. ii. i viij, It is extreme vodnes to doubt quhither thay ar to be kept haly or nocht. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 284 When their genitalles are full of seede they grow into woodnesse and rage of lust. |
3. Violent anger, wrath, fury, rage; extreme fierceness, ferocity, savageness, cruelty. Cf. madness 3.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 30 Þæt earme wif ᵹelyfde his waelhreowum ᵹeðeahte, and wearð mid maran wodnysse astyrod. a 1340 Hampole Psalter vi. 1 Lord in thi wodnes argu me noght. Ibid., Wodness or ire is a stirynge of mannys will, excitand to vengaunce. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 704 Nero wes brocht In sa mekill wodnes of thocht, Þat he his awne modir gert sla. c 1400 St. Alexius (Vernon) 474 Heo ter his cloþus al in sunder, in a gret woodnesse. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 237 In her wodnes thei kyllid the bischop of Cauntirbiry. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) R viij, You haue chased the bulle, and scaped his woodnes. 1550 Bale Engl. Votaries ii. Q j, He fretted for wodenes, and was angry with himselfe. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663) 166 He proceeding in cruelty, and daily increasing his savage woodness against the Saints of God. 1600 Holland Livy xxvi. xiii. 593 Wild and savage beasts..madded..with blind rage and woodnesse against one. 1825 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1856 I. 12 Whiles I just girn out-by yonner, wi' perfect wudness when I think o' you..rinning down me, and ither men of genius. 1906 Doughty Dawn in Britain xiii. IV. 36 So woodness kindles his great heart, gainst Romans. |
b. fig. Excessive violence or severity, ‘fury’ (of pain, or of inanimate things, as wind, fire, etc.).
| a 1400 Stockholm Med. MS. ii. 704 in Anglia XVIII. 324 It doth noth awey all þe pyne, But all þe wodnesse for þe tyme. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2008 Þe fuerse wyndes, And the wodenes of waghes. c 1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 21 His kechyn was a-fyre sodenly, and likely to perissh with wooddenes of fyre. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye ii. 189 Fayre flowres wherof the nynte parte faded by the wodnesse of the northe. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 229 The Lord of Wyndis, wyth wodenes, God Eolus, his bugill blew. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 127 No rage of drenching sea, nor woodenesse of the winde. |