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‖n. [ D., fr. bles a white spot on the forehead + bok buck. ] (Zool.) A South African antelope (Alcelaphus albifrons), having a large white spot on the forehead. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blessed r Blest; p. pr. & vb. n. Blessing. ] [ OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl&unr_;d blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood. ] 1. To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate [ 1913 Webster ]

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Gen. ii. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to. [ 1913 Webster ]

The quality of mercy is . . . twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee. 1 Chron. xvii. 27 (R. V. ) [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; -- applied to persons. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bless them which persecute you. Rom. xii. 14. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, -- as on food. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. Luke ix. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). [ Archaic ] Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To guard; to keep; to protect. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Ps. ciii. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To esteem or account happy; to felicitate. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nations shall bless themselves in him. Jer. iv. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To wave; to brandish. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And burning blades about their heads do bless. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This is an old sense of the word, supposed by Johnson, Nares, and others, to have been derived from the old rite of blessing a field by directing the hands to all parts of it. “In drawing [ their bow ] some fetch such a compass as though they would turn about and bless all the field.” Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bless me!
Bless us! an exclamation of surprise. Milton. --
To bless from, to secure, defend, or preserve from. “Bless me from marrying a usurer.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] To bless the doors from nightly harm. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ] --
To bless with,
To be blessed with, to favor or endow with; to be favored or endowed with; as, God blesses us with health; we are blessed with happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Hallowed; consecrated; worthy of blessing or adoration; heavenly; holy. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, run; prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Enjoying happiness or bliss; favored with blessings; happy; highly favored. [ 1913 Webster ]

All generations shall call me blessed. Luke i. 48. [ 1913 Webster ]

Towards England's blessed shore. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Imparting happiness or bliss; fraught with happiness; blissful; joyful. “Then was a blessed time.” “So blessed a disposition.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Enjoying, or pertaining to, spiritual happiness, or heavenly felicity; as, the blessed in heaven. [ 1913 Webster ]

Reverenced like a blessed saint. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cast out from God and blessed vision. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (R. C. Ch.) Beatified. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Used euphemistically, ironically, or intensively. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not a blessed man came to set her [ a boat ] free. R. D. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Happily; fortunately; joyfully. [ 1913 Webster ]

We shall blessedly meet again never to depart. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God. [ 1913 Webster ]

The assurance of a future blessedness. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Single blessedness, the unmarried state. “Grows, lives, and dies in single blessedness.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Delight; beatitude; ecstasy. See Happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Thistle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who blesses; one who bestows or invokes a blessing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. bletsung. See Bless, v. t. ] 1. The act of one who blesses. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A declaration of divine favor, or an invocation imploring divine favor on some or something; a benediction; a wish of happiness pronounces. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is the blessing, where with Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel. Deut. xxxiii. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A means of happiness; that which promotes prosperity and welfare; a beneficent gift. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Bib.) A gift. [ A Hebraism ] Gen. xxxiii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Grateful praise or worship. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Blessed. “This patriarch blest.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

White these blest sounds my ravished ear assail. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A large pebble; a rounded stone not too large to be handled; a small boulder; -- used for paving streets and for other purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a comb or crest; as, a combless cock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or functions of a constable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The wife of a constable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no cubs. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no curb or restraint. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. badminton played with two players on each side. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. tennis played with two players on each side. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Greek sculptures in the British Museum. They were obtained at Athens, about 1811, by Lord Elgin. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ . (Elec.) A form of conductor, designed by Ferranti, for currents of high potential, and consisting of concentric tubes of copper separated by an insulating material composed of paper saturated with black mineral wax. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. pl. [ LL. (res) fungibiles, probably fr. L. fungi to discharge. “A barbarous term, supposed to have originated in the use of the words functionem recipere in the Digeste.” Bouvier. “Called fungibiles, quia una alterius vice fungitur.” John Taylor (1755). Cf. Function. ] 1. (Civ. Law) Things which may be furnished or restored in kind, as distinguished from specific things; -- called also fungible things. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Scots Law) Movable goods which may be valued by weight or measure, in contradistinction from those which must be judged of individually. Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of herbs or of vegetation. J. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ See Nombles. ] Entrails of a deer. [ Written also umbles. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. ] Humbleness; abasement; low obeisance. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. Breeches; trousers; ; underwear generally, especially women's; -- now usually referred to as unmentionables. [ Colloq. or Slang ] Ld. Lytton. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Destitute of limbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A children's game played with marbles{ 3 }, little balls made of a hard substance (as glass). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. See Moebles. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. See Moebles. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ OE., fr. OF. moeble, mueble, movable, from L. mobilis. ] Movables; furniture; -- also used in the singular (moeble). [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Nimbleness. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. noblesse. See Noble. ] 1. Dignity; greatness; noble birth or condition. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. Spenser. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The nobility; persons of noble rank collectively, including males and females. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ F. nombles, fr. L. lumbulus, dim. of lumbus a loin. Cf. Numbles, Umbles, Humbles. ] The entrails of a deer; the umbles. [ Written also numbles. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. See Nombles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. money that a person or organization expects and is obligated to pay on notes and accounts. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

A pebble; also, pebbles collectively. “Chains of pebblestone.” Marlowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no ribs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Rubble, 1 and 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. having no shrubs. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A holder of a sublease. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A spoon of the largest size commonly used at the table; -- distinguished from teaspoon, dessert spoon, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tablespoonfuls As much as a tablespoon will hold; enough to fill a tablespoon. It is usually reckoned as one half of a fluid ounce, or four fluid drams. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a thumb. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of a tomb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Giving trouble or anxiety; vexatious; burdensome; wearisome. [ 1913 Webster ]

This troublesome world. Book of Common Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

These troublesome disguises that we wear. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

My mother will never be troublesome to me. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Uneasy; vexatious; perplexing; harassing; annoying; disgusting; irksome; afflictive; burdensome; tiresome; wearisome; importunate. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Trou"ble*some*ly, adv. -- Trou"ble*some*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ See Nombles. ] The entrails and coarser parts of a deer; hence, sometimes, entrails, in general. [ Written also humbles. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + bless. ] To deprive of blessings; to make wretched. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Pref. un- not + blessed, blest. ] Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. “Unblessed enchanter.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Unblessed. [ R. ] Sylvester. [ 1913 Webster ]