bless

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“
"It is not often I bless--I never did bless, as I can recollect--I like cursing better.

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Definitions (32)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. transitive verb To make holy by religious rite; sanctify.
  2. transitive verb To make the sign of the cross over so as to sanctify.
  3. transitive verb To invoke divine favor upon.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (19)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • Sutton, I want to talk to you about a very private matter Well, darling--bless your dear heart, your secrets are safe enough with me Oh, it isn't exactly a secret, Sutton--it is something I want to know. —  A Young Mutineer
  • If she would take me--bless her!--I'll lay you anything you like she would be the Commander-in-Chief's lady in the shortest time on record Bob, it's precious hard on both of us. —  The Path to Honour
  • God bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender. —  The Book of Humorous Verse
  • Aileen spoke in some surprise; then she added with a joyous laugh: "Oh, that dear man is sly--bless him!" —  Flamsted quarries
  • Why--bless me!--it is Mr Dugdale, isn't it? —  The Pirate Slaver A Story of the West African Coast
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

blessing ·  happiness ·  kindness ·  bliss ·  benediction ·  comfort ·  consolation ·  privilege ·  mercy ·  glory ·  encouragement ·  gift

Used in the same contextWord Family

bless:   blessing ·  blest ·  blessed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English blessen, from Old English blētsian, to consecrate; see bhel-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English blessen, blessien, blescen, bletsien (also blissen, etc.), from Anglo-Saxon blētsian, blēdsian = Old Northumbrian blædsia, gi-blædsia, bless (later Icelandic bletza, bleza, modern blessa, bless), originally blōdisōn, which may have meant ‘consecrate the altar by sprinkling it with the blood of the sacrifice’ (Sweet), literally make bloody, from blōd, blood, with verb-formative -s, as in clænsian, cleanse, minsian, grow small (see cleanse and mince). Confused in Middle English and since with the unrelated bliss; hence the Middle English parallel forms blissen, blissien, bliscen; and see blessfully, blessfulness.
  2. from Middle English blessen, blyssen, blechen, strike, wound, from Old French blecier, blechier, French blesser, wound, injure; of uncertain origin, perhaps from Middle High German ze-bletzen, cut to pieces, from ze-, German zer- (= Anglo-Saxon tō-, English to-), apart, + bletz, blez, Old High German bletz, a patch, a piece.
 

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/blɛs/
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