grisliness
(ˈgrɪzlɪnɪs)
[f. grisly a. + -ness.]
The quality or condition of being grisly; horribleness, gruesomeness.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2310 Ne swa sleygh payntur never nan was..Þat couthe ymagyn of þair gryslynes. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶790 (Harl. MS.) Þey schuln haue..hunger and þurst and grislines of deueles þat schul alto-tere hem wiþout respit. [Cf. grimness.] a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1622) 251 That ill agreeing musicke, which was beautified with the grislynesse of wounds [etc.]. 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 131 G. What, is she so loathsome? L. More than grislenes or hell it selfe. 1631 R. Bolton Comf. Affl. Consc. 307 Hee..addes more grisselinesse to his many hatefull transgressions. 1867 Howells Ital. Journ. 209 All the horrors for which we had come were then in perfect grisliness. |