beneficial, a. and n.
(bɛnɪˈfɪʃəl)
Also 6 benyfycyal(l, bunfycyal, beneficiall.
[a. F. bénéficial, ad. L. beneficiāl-em, f. beneficium: see -al1.]
A. adj.
† 1. = beneficent. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 244 Whome..thou hast founde moost..redy helper, and moost beneficiall lorde. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 129 Other to whome they haue bene beneficiale they call their frendes. 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 301 You are so liberall and beneficiall. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. i. ii. 3 We ought to be beneficial to our neighbours. |
2. Of benefit; advantageous, serviceable, profitable.
| 1494 Fabyan Hen. III, an. 1262 (R.) To deuise suche thynges as might be benyfycyall for the cytie. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. ii. §4 Not that anything is made to be beneficial unto Him. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. ii. 7 Besides these beneficiall Newes, it is the Celebration of his Nuptiall. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. i. 76 He was so entirely devoted to what would be Beneficial to the King. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 346 Diluents with nitrous Salts are beneficial. 1876 Green Short Hist. ii. 83 No measures could have been more beneficial to the kingdom at large. |
† b. Profitable in a pecuniary sense, lucrative.
| 1526 Tindale Acts xix. 19 Not a litell beneficiall vnto the craftes men. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 48 Officers, that make use of their authority to monopolise all beneficiall places and good bargaines. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. (1849) II. iii. 50 Finding me a beneficial customer. |
3. Law. † a. Of or pertaining to a benefice; having a benefice, beneficed. Obs.
| 1592 Act James VI, (1814) 573 (Jam.) The occasion thairof is the directioun of lettrez of horning in beneficiall materis generallie. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 230 Any person..not being beneficiall, or having any spirituall promotion. a 1859 Hallam (in Ogilvie), An engagement was tendered to all civil officers and beneficial clergy. |
b. Of or pertaining to the usufruct of property; enjoying the usufruct.
| 1844 J. Williams Real Prop. Law (1877) 162 He is the beneficial owner of the property. 1863 Keble Bp. Wilson v. 168 Such a formal surrender as should secure..the lord's beneficial interest in them. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. ix. 87 The beneficial lessees of the various monastic corporations. |
B. n. ? A letter presenting to a benefice; a presentation. (Johnson says ‘A benefice.’)
| 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 486 How to a Benefice he might aspire. ‘Marie, there (said the Priest) is arte indeed..For that the ground-worke is, and end of all, How to obtain a Beneficiall. |