vouchsafementn.
/vaʊtʃˈseɪfmənt/ 1. An act of condescension, grace, or favour; a boon, benefit, or blessing.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > gift or present > [noun] > grant or boon
bountyc1250
tithinga1300
grantc1380
blessing1382
vouchsafement1629
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > kindness > [noun] > graciousness > favour or grace > instance or act of
douthOE
wel-dedeOE
gooddeedOE
boonc1175
fordeedc1230
gracec1300
good turna1375
gratitude?a1513
gratuity1523
favour1605
vouchsafement1629
veniality1655
1629 J. Gaule Practique Theories Christs Predict. 135 It was a woundrous vouchsafement, that he who inioyed the highth of Diuinitie, should descend to the bottome of Humanitie.
1652 J. Pawson Brief Vindic. Free Grace 22 Christ hath not purchased any such general vouchsafement to all the children of men.
1674 R. Boyle Excellency Theol. i. i. 59 I am prone to think the early discoveries of such great and important things, to be in God's account no mean vouchsafements.
1726 R. Wodrow Corr. (1843) III. 277 To make a judgment how far it will be proper to publish some extraordinary vouchsafements towards them.
1756 T. Amory Life John Buncle I. 148 A merciful vouchsafement from God to mankind.
1809 R. Cumberland John de Lancaster III. 231 That indeed..will be a happiness never to be exceeded, a vouchsafement never to be forgotten.
1822 E. Irving Let. in Oliphant Life (1862) I. vi. 135 But these things..delight me not, save as vouchsafements of my Maker's bounty.
1874 E. B. Pusey Lenten Serm. 184 But by what giant progress in graces, by what undeviating correspondence to Divine vouchsafements in time, must that soul have been formed.
2. The action of conferring or granting some boon, favour, advantage, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > giving > [noun] > granting
titheeOE
yating?c1225
grant?a1366
granting1609
affordment1623
yieldancea1656
vouchsafement1666
accordance1827
according1834
1666 J. Glanvill Serm. Luke xiii. 24 in Discourses, etc. (1681) 59 [He] believes..that God is in him of a Truth, in a special way of Manifestation and Vouchsafement.
1668 J. Howe Blessedness of Righteous Disc. (1825) 22 Reducing them to a..dispair of relief, otherwise than by his merciful hand and vouchsafement.
a1680 J. Corbet Humble Endeavour (1683) iii. xxxiii. 52 God doth ascertain Conversion, by the vouchsafement of such Grace, as doth infallibly produce it.
1721 R. Keith tr. Thomas à Kempis Soliloquy of Soul xiii, in tr. Thomas à Kempis Select Pieces II. 203 If thou standest astonished at the Vouchsafement of this Union.
1805 ‘E. de Acton’ Nuns of Desert I. 229 Did he not duly administer pardon, and peace, and indulgence, to every one who applied properly to him, for such portions of Divine Vouchsafement?
1847 R. W. Hamilton Rewards & Punishm. 316 The sovereign vouchsafement of mercy to some.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1920; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
<
n.1629