Middle English Dictionary Entry
grimnesse n.
Entry Info
| Forms | grimnesse n. |
| Etymology | OE |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
Fierceness; sternness; horribleness, terror.
Associated quotations
- c1175(?OE) Bod.Hom.(Bod 343)102/15 : Þa englas healdæþ heom wið his [the Devil's] yfel & wið his niþes grymnesse.
- c1405 Chaucer CT.Pars.(Elsm)I.864 : They shul han..sharpe hunger and thurst and grymnesse of deueles.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)212 : Grymnesse, or horrybylnesse: Horror, horribilitas.
- a1500 PParv.(KC 8)212 : Grymnesse, or stornesse: Austeritas, rigor.