sternness
(ˈstɜːnnɪs)
Forms: α. 4–6 steernesse, stiernesse, sternesse, 5 sturnesse; β. 4–5 sturnenesse, sternenysse, 7 sternenes; 6 sternnesse, 7– sternness.
[f. stern a. + -ness.]
1. Severity of disposition or mood; rigour in punishment or condemnation; an instance of this; hardness, harshness, obduracy, † fierceness.
| 1382 Wyclif Ezek. xxxiv. 4 Bot with steernesse [1388 sturnenesse] ȝe comaundide to hem, and with power. c 1400 Sege Jerus. (E.E.T.S.) 29/517 Noþer grounded in god, ne on his grace tristen, Bot alle in sterymnes [v.r. sternenysse] of stour & in strengþ one. 1483 Cath. Angl. 363/1 Sternesse, pertinacia. a 1500 Medulla Gram., Austeritas, steernesse or felnesse. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. 22 That grauitee and sternesse, whiche is in you, as it were by nature ingenerate. 1692 Dryden Cleomenes i. i. 7, I have sternness in my Soul enough To hear of Murders, Rapes, and Sacrilege. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 35 She was a little too much frighted, as she owned afterwards, at his Sternness. 1844 Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary i. vi, But his mother was wroth. In a sternness quoth she, ‘As thou play'st at the ball, art thou playing with me?’ 1885 Manch. Exam. 26 Jan. 5/3 It is found compatible with the strictest discipline, and indeed with rhadamanthine sternness. 1914 Edin. Rev. Oct. 320 A typical Frenchman..bland and gracious, but with a capacity for sternness. |
b. quasi-concr., applied to a goddess.
| a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca iii. i, Thou sure-steel'd sternnesse, give us this day good hearts, good enemies. |
† 2. Rigour, inclemency (of climate). Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 51 And for þe sturnesse of heuene [L. inclementia caeli] he haþ þe more wildernes. |
3. Of aspect: Severity, formidableness.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. x. 7 Of stature huge, and eke of courage bold, That sonnes of men amazd their sternnesse to behold. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 24 How Should I..behold The sternnesse of his presence. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxix, Emily was terrified by the sternness of his look. |
b. Of scenery, buildings, etc.: Severity; harshness in nature or aspect.
| 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms ii. 387 The sternness of this dismal Isle Is soften'd by thy saintly smile. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 197, I..enjoyed for a time the sternness of the surrounding scene. |