† beholdingnessn.
Obsolete.
The condition of being beholden to any one; obligation, indebtedness; (in late use) dependence.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > [noun] > state of being morally bound
subjection1581
beholdingnessa1586
obstriction1671
boundnessa1866
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. vi. sig. Mm1v All other meanes, that might either establish a beholdingnesse, or at the lest awake a kindnes.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 60v My loue to vertue, and not any particular beholdingnes, hath expressed this my testimony.
1624 R. Bellings Sixth Bk. Arcadia 22 Leonatus the yong King of Pontus (who had bin there to acknowledge his beholdingnes to them).
1658 H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 200 That servile condition..beholdingness or dependance on the elder [brother].
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.a1586