Senses
- To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." [Gen. ii. 3.]
- 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. )]
- 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.]
- 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.]
- To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self).(Archaic)
- To guard; to keep; to protect.(Obs)
- 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.]
- To esteem or account happy; to felicitate."The nations shall bless themselves in him." [Jer. iv. 3.]
- 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.”
Etymology: OE. blessien bletsen, AS. bletsian bledsian bloedsian, fr. bl�d blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood
