Bless \Bless\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blessedor 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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)