great-heartedadj.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. xii. xxi. 630 Þe faucoun..is so greet-hertid [L. tante animositatis] þat if he failiþ of his pray in þe firste fliȝt and rees and in þe secounde, he takeþ wreche on himself..and..as it were for aschame he fleeþ aboute in þe eyre.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 210 Grete hertyd, not redy to buxumnesse pertinax, inflexibilis.

?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 26 All women that ben gret herted and misansueringe her husbondes.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. ii. 428/1 He recouered..Pemsey, wherein his vncle Odo had strongly immured himselfe, whose lacke of victuall, by King Williams strait siege, allaied the pride of that great-hearted man.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 27 The Earl..was as Great-hearted as He, and thought the very Suspecting him to be an injury Unpardonable.

1753 Hist. Fanny Seymour xxvi. 213 Williams was too great-hearted to subject himself again to the insults of his peevish grandfather.

c1425 tr. J. Arderne Treat. Fistula (Sloane 6) (1910) 7 It semeþ a gret herted man [L. magnanimum] for to suffre sharp þingis.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 210 Grete hertyd, and bolde, magnanimus.

1603 J. Davies Microcosmos Pref. 16 Great harted Heros, great Northumberland Furnisht with all that may make great a Peer.

1758 J. Home Agis v. i. 69 Full of high and pleasing thoughts he fell. Great-hearted Virtue, in its swelling hour, Scarce feels the blow that strokes at brittle life.

1789 M. A. Meilan Serm. for Children I. xi. 157 It consists with the magnanimous, that is to say, great hearted men, when they behold..an abundance of fish, flesh, and fowl, to sympathize..with those creatures.

1842 R. Browning Marching Along i, in Bells & Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics 3/1 Great-hearted gentlemen, singing this song.

1851 T. A. Buckley tr. Homer Iliad v. 102 Great-hearted, brazen-voiced Stentor.

1880 G. Meredith Tragic Comedians II. i. 12 Alvan was great-hearted: he could love in his giant's fashion.

1949 M. R. Cohen Dreamer's Journey xx. 162 My department head..had been particularly greathearted in his patience with my frailties of temper.

1996 D. N. McCloskey Vices of Economists—Virtues of Bourgeoisie v. 126 The aristocrat, from the Iliad to the cowboy movie, is honorable, great-hearted, quick to anger.

1813 Examiner 31 May 349/2 The courage and great-heartedness of the people of England.

1844 J. R. Lowell Lett. (1894) I. 79 If they give us nothing else, they give us at least a feeling of great-heartedness and exaltation.

1880 G. Meredith Tragic Comedians II. ix. 149 Wives he should have by fifties and hundreds if he wanted them, she thought in her great-heartedness.

1957 G. Sale & S. Sale tr. ‘Stendhal’ Love xxxi. 77 One should never believe in great-heartedness except as a last resort.

2005 New Yorker 21 Mar. 47/2 It was a feeling of old friendship and solid regard—a sympathy with your great-heartedness.