grievousness
(ˈgriːvəsnɪs)
[f. grievous a. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being grievous, in various senses of the adj.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 719 Þyn oþys done hym more greuesnesse Þan alle þe Iewys wykkednesse. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 3 This name Ihesu..dose away greuesnes of fleschely desyris. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 322 Of þe greuousnes of þe rigboon whanne he is out of ioyncte. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 211/1 Grevawnce, or grevowsnesse, gravamen. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xi. xxxvii, A gentyll burden wythout grevousnes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 254 b, Also the greuousnesse of this payne saynt Augustyn toucheth. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 45 b, The apples of thys [Mandrage]..smell plesantly ioyned w{supt}{suph} a certayn greuousnes. a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. viii. ix. §3 For the grievousness of sin is aggravated by the greatness of him that committeth it. 1611 Bible Isa. xxi. 15 The grieuousnesse of warre. 1682 Norris Hierocles 48 We first alleviate the grievousness of Events by right reasoning. a 1864 J. D Burns Serm. in Mem. & Rem. (1869) 387 Affliction..would lose all the grievousness and smart which make affliction. |