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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Bless \Bless\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Blessed}or {Blest}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Blessing}.] [OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl?d blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See {Blood}.]
1. To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate
And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. --Gen. ii. 3.
2. To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to.
The quality of mercy is . . . twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. --Shak.
It hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee. --1 Chron. xvii. 27 (R. V. )
3. To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; -- applied to persons.
Bless them which persecute you. --Rom. xii. 14.
4. To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, -- as on food.
Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. --Luke ix. 16.
5. To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). [Archaic] --Holinshed.
6. To guard; to keep; to protect. [Obs.]
7. To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. --Ps. ciii. 1.
8. To esteem or account happy; to felicitate.
The nations shall bless themselves in him. --Jer. iv. 3.
9. To wave; to brandish. [Obs.]
And burning blades about their heads do bless. --Spenser.
Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. --Fairfax.
Note: This is an old sense of the word, supposed by Johnson, Nares, and others, to have been derived from the old rite of blessing a field by directing the hands to all parts of it. ''In drawing [their bow] some fetch such a compass as though they would turn about and bless all the field.'' --Ascham.
{Bless me!} {Bless us!} an exclamation of surprise. --Milton.
{To bless from}, to secure, defend, or preserve from. ''Bless me from marrying a usurer.'' --Shak.
To bless the doors from nightly harm. --Milton.
{To bless with}, {To be blessed with}, to favor or endow with; to be favored or endowed with; as, God blesses us with health; we are blessed with happiness.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Blest \Blest\, adjective Blessed. ''This patriarch blest.'' --Milton.
White these blest sounds my ravished ear assail. --Trumbull.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
bless
verb
1: give a benediction to; "The dying man blessed his son" [ant: {curse}]
2: confer prosperity or happiness on
3: make the sign of the cross over someone in order to call on God for protection; consecrate [syn: {sign}]
4: render holy by means of religious rites [syn: {consecrate}, {hallow}, {sanctify}] [ant: {desecrate}] [also: {blest}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
blest
adjective: highly favored or fortunate (as e.g. by divine grace); "our blessed land"; "the blessed assurance of a steady income" [syn: {blessed}] [ant: {cursed}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
blest See {bless}
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