bless Meaning, Definition & Usage
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verb give a benediction to
- The dying man blessed his son
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verb confer prosperity or happiness on
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verb make the sign of the cross over someone in order to call on God for protection; consecrate
sign.
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verb render holy by means of religious rites
consecrate; hallow; sanctify.
WordNet
Bless transitive verb
Etymology
OE.Wordforms
Definitions
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To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Gen. ii. 3.
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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. )
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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.
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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.
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To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). Archaic Holinshed. -
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.
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To esteem or account happy; to felicitate. The nations shall bless themselves in him. Jer. iv. 3.
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To wave; to brandish. Obs.And burning blades about their heads do bless. Spenser.
Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. Fairfax.
✍ 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.