benedict

From Benedicke (normalized to the usual spelling, Benedict), a character in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1598).

benedict (plural benedicts)

1. (rare) A newly married man, especially one who was previously a confirmed bachelor.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger Poeple's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 50:

     The benedict, drearily superfluous to the festivities, had hardly been noticed by her as he lurked about the walls and sought what entertainment was possible to one under the social disabilities of matrimony.

• Garner's Usage Tip of the Day: "Benedict/Benedicke", accessed on 2005-04-30, which in turn cites Garner's Modern American Usage, Bryan Garner, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, 2003

Latin benedictus, past participle of benedicere (“to bless”). See benison. Doublet of bennet.

benedict (comparative more benedict, superlative most benedict)

1. (obsolete) Having mild and salubrious qualities.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, “Natural History”, in The Works of Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, volume 3, published 1740, page 5:

     And it is not a ſmall thing won in Phyſick, if you can make rhubarb, and other medicines that are benedict, as ſtrong purgers, as thoſe that are not without ſome malignity.

benedict (third-person singular simple present benedicts, present participle benedicting, simple past and past participle benedicted)

1. (rare) to bless.

   Antonym: maledict

   • 1905, Ruth McEnery Stuart, The Second Wooing of Salina Sue, and Other Stories, page 181:

     Now, dis explanation o' de rose dance ain't on my own account, for I des' now tol' yer dat, so far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't make no diff'ence to me if I'd 'a' been requi'ed to go to hell for her — I'd 'a' went — in joy — for de fulfilment o' de love which Gord A'mighty done benedicted my heart wid.

   • 1979, Satsvarūpa Dāsa Gosvāmī, A handbook for Kṛṣṇa consciousness, page 168:

     Rukmini, the goddess of fortune, was already personally obliged to stay as a guest in the brahmana's house in order to benedict him with great fortune.

   • 1983, Kalyan Kumar Ganguli, Cultural History of Rajasthan, page 54:

     As a result of this act he was benedicted with more honours by the Mughal court.

   • 1994, Charles Brock, Mosaics of the American Dream, page 41:

     George Washington benedicted the Hebrew congregation in Savannah using the example of Israel as a paradigm for America: May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a promised land, whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people, whose God is Jehovah.

   • 1999, Facta Universitatis: Series philosophy and sociology:

     At the beginning of the nineties, especially during the Peterle government, it seemed as if ecclesiastic figues would start appearing and benedicting public events. After certain protests were made, especially after the opening of a motorway was benedicted, this practice seems to be fading away.

   • 2001, Leslie Reynolds, Spiritual Maturity: The Whole Elephant, page 150:

     The spiritually mature person interacts with others for the purpose of benedicting them spiritually, not for his own social or psychological needs.

   • 2013, Rick Cox, Orphan Moon, page 105:

     Fancy Penney was then called upon to benedict them all home in blessing and safety.

2. (of eggs) To poach and serve on an English muffin with ham or bacon and hollandaise sauce.
   • 1965, The Reader's Digest - Volume 86, page 246:

     His pancakes were never just ordinary pancakes: they were airy creations mushroomed in sauce, or they were crepes suzette. Eggs were shirred, mornayed or benedicted.

   • 1985, Hans Fisher, Eugene Boe, The Rutgers Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol, page 59:

     I love thee raw, baked, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, poached, scrambled, sauteed, fried, shirred, deviled, creamed, curried, coddled, glazed, pickled, Benedicted, or Scotched . . . in omelets and souffle/s and quiches of infinite variety ...in mayonnaise and hollandaise and be/arnaise. . .

   • 2003, Beth Goldner, Wake: Stories, page 107:

     I can scramble them, poach them, Benedict them, and make them into omelets.

• “benedict”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.