beauteousnessn.
/ˈbjuːtɪəsnəs/, U.S. /ˈbjudiəsnəs/ Chiefly literary and poetic.
The quality of being beauteous. Cf. beauty n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > [noun]
wlitec825
faireOE
fairnessOE
fairlecc1225
fairheadc1300
fairshipc1300
forma1382
clearnessa1400
beautyc1405
delicacya1450
pulchritudea1460
speciositya1470
lovelinessa1500
beautifulnessc1500
formosityc1500
fairhood?1503
bewtynes?c1510
decorea1513
venusty1559
decorum1604
bellitude1623
beauteousnessa1631
loveliheada1637
decor1656
luculency1656
Venus1657
coquetry1794
beautyhood1832
glamour1840
a1631 J. Donne Poems (1633) 297 From lesse vertue, and lesse beautiousnesse, The Gentiles fram'd them Gods and Goddesses.
1652 E. Benlowes Theophila xi. lxxi. 202 The Soul, that Beauteousnesse of Grace exquires.
1735 J. Barrow Dict. Polygraphicum II. at Polverine A very good crystal, but somewhat verging towards a sky-colour, the beauteousness whereof is owing to the oriental Polverine.
1859 R. C. Singleton tr. Virgil Aeneid xi, in tr. Virgil Wks. II. 419 Whose brilliance not as yet hath passed away, Nor yet its beauteousness.
1920 G. Sanborn I, Citizen of Eternity 57 In the midst of the delicate, wistful, soul-gripping summer beauteousness he slept.
2009 J. Lynes Factory Voice 29 I mean to spell out her beauteousness, but my tongue's too tangled.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1631