Adjacent Words

Blessing definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BLESS'ING, ppr. Making happy; wishing happiness to; praising or extolling; consecrating by prayer.
BLESS'ING,n. Benediction; a wish of happiness pronounced; a prayer imploring happiness upon another.
1. A solemn prophetic benediction, in which happiness is desired, invoked or foretold.
This is the blessing wherewith Moses--blessed the children of Israel. Deutoronomy 33.
2. Any means of happiness; a gift,benefit or advantage;that which promotes temporal prosperity and welfare, or secures immortal felicity. A just and pious magistrate is a public blessing. The divine favor is the greatest blessing.
3. Among the Jews,a present; a gift; either because it was attended with kind wishes for the welfare of the giver, or because it was the means of increasing happiness.
Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee. Genesis 33.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the formal act of approving; "he gave the project his blessing"; "his decision merited the approval of any sensible person" [syn: blessing, approval, approving] [ant: disapproval]
2: a desirable state; "enjoy the blessings of peace"; "a spanking breeze is a boon to sailors" [syn: blessing, boon]
3: a short prayer of thanks before a meal; "their youngest son said grace" [syn: grace, blessing, thanksgiving]
4: a ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection [syn: benediction, blessing]
5: the act of praying for divine protection [syn: blessing, benediction]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: before 12th century 1. a. the act or words of one that blesses b. approval, encouragement 2. a thing conducive to happiness or welfare 3. grace said at a meal

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act of declaring, seeking, or bestowing (esp. divine) favour (sought God's blessing; mother gave them her blessing). 2 grace said before or after a meal. 3 a gift of God, nature, etc.; a thing one is glad of (what a blessing he brought it!). Phrases and idioms: blessing in disguise an apparent misfortune that eventually has good results.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bless Bless, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blessedor Blest; p. pr. & vb. n. Blessing.] [OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl?d blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood.] 1. To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. --Gen. ii. 3. 2. To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to. The quality of mercy is . . . twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. --Shak. It hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee. --1 Chron. xvii. 27 (R. V. ) 3. To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; -- applied to persons. Bless them which persecute you. --Rom. xii. 14. 4. To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, -- as on food. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. --Luke ix. 16. 5. To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). [Archaic] --Holinshed. 6. To guard; to keep; to protect. [Obs.] 7. To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. --Ps. ciii. 1. 8. To esteem or account happy; to felicitate. The nations shall bless themselves in him. --Jer. iv. 3. 9. To wave; to brandish. [Obs.] And burning blades about their heads do bless. --Spenser. Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. --Fairfax. Note: 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blessing Bless"ing, n. [AS. bletsung. See Bless, v. t.] 1. The act of one who blesses. 2. A declaration of divine favor, or an invocation imploring divine favor on some or something; a benediction; a wish of happiness pronounces. This is the blessing, where with Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel. --Deut. xxxiii. 1. 3. A means of happiness; that which promotes prosperity and welfare; a beneficent gift. Nature's full blessings would be well dispensed. --Milton. 4. (Bib.) A gift. [A Hebraism] --Gen. xxxiii. 11. 5. Grateful praise or worship.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(blessings) 1. A blessing is something good that you are grateful for. Rivers are a blessing for an agricultural country. ...the blessings of prosperity. N-COUNT 2. If something is done with someone's blessing, it is done with their approval and support. With the blessing of the White House, a group of Democrats in Congress is meeting to find additional budget cuts... In April Thai and Indonesian leaders gave their formal blessing to the idea. = approval N-COUNT: usu sing, with poss 3. A blessing is a prayer asking God to look kindly upon the people who are present or the event that is taking place. N-COUNT 4. see also bless 5. If you tell someone to count their blessings, you are saying that they should think about how lucky they are instead of complaining. Some would argue this was no burden in fact, and that she should count her blessings. PHRASE: V inflects 6. If you say that something is a blessing in disguise, you mean that it causes problems and difficulties at first but later you realize that it was the best thing that could have happened. The failure to conclude the trade talks last December could prove a blessing in disguise. PHRASE: usu v-link PHR 7. If you say that a situation is a mixed blessing, you mean that it has disadvantages as well as advantages. For ordinary Italians, Sunday's news probably amounts to a mixed blessing. PHRASE: usu v-link PHR

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

(berakhah; eulogia): Sometimes means the form of words used in invoking the bestowal of good, as in De 33:1; Jos 8:34; and Jas 3:10. Sometimes it means the good or the benefit itself which has been conferred, as in Ge 27:36, "Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?" and Pr 10:22, "The blessing of Yahweh, it maketh rich." "The cup of blessing" (to poterion tes eulogias, a special use of the word in 1Co 10:16), means the cup for which we bless God, or which represents to us so much blessin g from God.

James M. Gray

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Benediction, benison, invocation of happiness. 2. Good, benefit, advantage, profit, gain, boon, service. 3. Glory, honor, praise, thanksgiving, gratitude.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A small quantity over and above the measure, usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and other vegetables.

Moby Thesaurus

Godspeed, OK, acceptance, accord, acquiescence, act of grace, act of kindness, adherence, admiration, advantage, affirmation, affirmative, affirmative voice, agreement, approbation, approval, assent, asset, avail, aye, beatification, beatitude, behalf, behoof, benedicite, benediction, benefaction, benefit, benevolence, benignity, benison, best wishes, blessedness, boon, bounty, break, canonization, compliance, compliment, congratulation, connivance, consecration, consent, countenance, courtesy, dedication, devotion, eagerness, endorsement, enshrinement, esteem, exaltation, favor, favorable vote, felicitation, felicity, fluke, fortunateness, fortune, gain, gift, glorification, godsend, good, good deed, good fortune, good luck, good offices, good turn, good wishes, grace, gratulation, hallowing, happy fortune, help, interest, invocation, justification, justification by works, kind deed, kind offices, kindly act, kindness, labor of love, loaves and fishes, luck, luckiness, lucky break, lucky strike, manna, manna from heaven, mercy, mitzvah, nod, obligation, office, okay, permission, prayer, profit, promptitude, promptness, purification, ratification, readiness, respect, run of luck, sainthood, sainting, sanctification, sanction, seal of approval, service, setting apart, smiles of fortune, stamp of approval, state of grace, streak of luck, stroke of luck, submission, thanks, thanksgiving, the breaks, turn, ungrudgingness, unloathness, unreluctance, valediction, voice, vote, welfare, well-being, willingness, world of good, yea, yea vote