profitablenessn.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 41 Tela aranea..hatte so for profitablenes [L. vtilitatem] þerof to be clere & briȝt to þe spirit.

?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 46 Þe tonge is..imade of many synowes, ligamentis, veynes..ordeyned principali for þe taste, ȝeuynge profitablenesse [?a1425 N.Y. Acad. Med. vtilitee] to speke and to gouerne þe mete in the mowth.

c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 83 (MED) He wolde..proclame þat he had such chaffre, and which were þe preciosite and þe profitablenes of hit.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 7 (MED) We owin in scriptures raþer to seke profitabilnes [L. utilitatem] þan highnes of langage.

1583 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Serm. on Deuteronomie xvi. 93 To the ende that the profitableness of this doctrine may be the better knowen.

1651 O. Cromwell Let. 24 Mar. in Writings & Speeches (1939) (modernized text) II. 400 To approve my heart and life to Him in more faithfulness and thankfulness, and those I serve with more profitableness and diligence.

1703 tr. H. van Oosten Dutch Gardener v. iv. 253 You must do them [sc. boxes] over within, once or twice with a good oily Colour, the Profitableness whereof, will shew it self in time.

1756 J. Wesley Let. 6 Jan. (1931) III. 361 This doctrine of the profitableness of coldness above fervour directly tends to make believers easy while they are sliding back into unbelief.

1824 M. M. Sherwood Waste Not ii. 12 The profitableness of holiness, not only in the world to come, but also in this life.

1885 Times 14 Dec. 9/4 Sermons about the profitableness of drainage and cleanliness.

1926 Social Forces 5 164/1 Recognizing the profitableness of all scientific discussion, one may yet ask what meaning all this has for mental measurement.

1997 I. Opie & P. Opie Oxf. Dict. Nursery Rhymes (ed. 2) 78 The profitableness of shaving a pig appears to have been an old joke, perhaps similar to that of shaving an egg.

1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 61 Some temperate propertie or purpose..as the horse for swiftnes, the Cow for fruitfulness, the Sheepe for profitablenesse.

1656 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved xxv. 163 Hoping..to convince some of profitableness, others of the fecibleness.., and all of a possibility to recover some hopes of supplies hereafter.

1677 R. Ferguson East-India-trade 5 I now proceed..to shew the profitableness of the India-Trade, and that it is best managed in the way of a Company, and a Joint-stock.

1707 T. Heton Some Acct. Mines ix. 64 (heading) Shews, why our Mines have been so much neglected, notwithstanding their Profitableness.

1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. i. viii. 88 Marriage is encouraged in China, not by the profitableness of children, but by the liberty of destroying them. View more context for this quotation

1861 Amer. Agriculturist July 209/3 Not a few people are satisfied to plant a vine or two, without troubling themselves with the inquiry as to their profitableness.

1892 J. J. Janney in A. E. Lee Hist. Columbus II. 314 Equal in..profitableness of operation to that of any city of equal population in the Union.

1934 Sci. Monthly Mar. 284/1 The Bureau seeks to enhance the profitableness of the dairy industry.

1993 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 51 224/1 A market whose dominant use-value is..the profitableness of an artwork to the entrepreneur.