alms-deedn.

OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) xx. 335 Þreo cynn syndon ælmesdæda [L. aelimosinarum]. An is lichomlic, þæt man þam wædliendan to gode sylle swa hwæt swa man mæge.

OE Ælfric Homily: De Duodecim Abusivis (Corpus Cambr. 178) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 299 Twelf unþeawas syndon on þyssere worulde..þæt is gif se wita bið butan goodum weorcum..& se welega butan ælmæsdædum.

a1275 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics 13th Cent. (1932) 48 (MED) To..don sum almes-deden wid þine rist honde.

c1330 (?c1300) Speculum Guy (Auch.) (1898) l. 934 (MED) Þank and mede For so litel an almesdede.

?a1425 (a1415) Lanterne of Liȝt (Harl.) (1917) 86 (MED) Whanne we delen almes-dede.

a1450 in S. A. Moore Lett. & Papers J. Shillingford (1871) App. 142 (MED) Yevers of almesdede to the seid brigge.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 94 And dide many faire almesse dedes.

1536 tr. G. Gnapheus Myrrour for Syke sig. G vi^v The almes dedes that you wolde geue yf ye where whole, doth not God esteme for theyr multitude, but he regardeth the lust, and wyll that ye haue to them.

1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. v. 78 Murder is his almes deed, petitioners For bloud he nere put backe.

1611 Bible (King James) Acts ix. 36 This woman was full of good works and almes deeds . View more context for this quotation

1726 T. Madox Firma Burgi 24 The Religious Gilds were founded chiefly for Devotion and Almsdeeds; the Secular chiefly for Trade and Almsdeeds.

1820 C. R. Maturin Melmoth III. xviii. 253 She is eminent in alms-deeds and works of charity.

1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. III. xxi. 600 Almsdeeds were always regarded as a religious duty.

1917 Life Mother P. von Mallinckrodt 252 Always generous in her almsdeeds, she secretly assisted poor students to the priesthood.

1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 13 July a6 It was acknowledged by all that he was most devoted to fasting, prayer, alms-deeds and good works of every kind.

2006 C. Rawcliffe Leprosy Medieval Eng. iii. 133 As preachers so often exhorted their healthy congregations, almsdeeds..were like a phlebotomy or a purge, which cleansed the soul of sin.

c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 143 Tilie he þenne þæt he hure þis fæsten selost feste, æȝþer ȝe on psealmsonge.., ȝe on ælmesdæde, ȝe on halȝe bedum.

a1200 (?OE) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 207 (MED) He haueð..a fele wise forlete almesdede.

c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 36 (MED) Almesdede senne quenkeþ, Ase water þat fer a-quencheþ.

c1410 (c1390) G. Chaucer Man of Law's Tale (Harl. 7334) (1885) l. 1156 In vertu and in holy almesdede They lyuen alle.

a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail lvi. l. 50 Mochel Almesdede ded he trewly.

1662 R. Baxter Saint or Brute ii. vii. 217 There is more Honesty in the very eating and drinking of the sanctified, then in the prayer and sacrifices and alms deed of the ungodly.

a1755 T. Wilson Wks. (1781) I. 252/1 He who fancies that his mind may effectually be changed in a short time, will deceive himself and the Church, unless he shews this change by fasting, alms-deed, retirement &c.

1843 Catholic Mag. Apr. 244 The good of religion, resulting..from the mutual practice of alms-deed on the one hand, and by [sic] its future consequences on the other.

1906 C. M. Doughty Dawn in Brit. III. x. 89 And, come to Autumn, yield of corn enough, That eat the brethren might the blessed loaf..And have, for alms-deed, mongst poor heathen folk.

c1400 Life St. Anne (Minn.) (1928) l. 2810 Wald noght..Twa stremes of water..serve þe town?.. Þai sayd all, ‘Ȝa..it were a grete almosse dede Who myght gar it be done.’]

1425 in L. Morsbach Mittelengl. Originalurkunden (1923) 11 (MED) Hit ys a gret almes-dede to bere weteness of trewth.

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iv. l. 785 Thei dempte it was an almesse deede, To sette ther lond in quiete.

1519 W. Horman Vulgaria xxxi. f. 258^v It is an almesdede to helpe the cheualry of Rhodis ageynste the turkis.

?1562 Thersytes sig. D.iii^v I care not if the olde wytche were deade: It were an almoys dede to knocke hyr in the heade.

a1689 W. Cleland Coll. Poems (1697) 41 It were an Almes-deed to hang us.

a1730 A. Pennecuik Compl. Coll. Poems (?1750) ii. 68 It were Alm's-deed to cut wi' Knives, Your Gear awa'.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth i, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. III. 10 It were an alms deed to leave him there.

2007 R. Rex in T. S. Freeman & T. F. Mayer Martyrs & Martyrdom in Eng. iii. 95 [He] was arrested next day for having heckled him, yelling out that it would be a great almsdeed (‘magnam fore elemosinam’) to drag the preacher down out of his pulpit.