hardnesse

English

Noun

hardnesse (countable and uncountable, plural hardnesses)

1. Obsolete spelling of hardness.
   • 1567, Arthur Golding: Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 lines 78-81

     But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart.

     For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part

     Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin,

     And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within.

   • 1622, John Downame, chapter IX, in A Guide to Godlynesse: or, A Treatise of A Christian Life, page 60:

     And thus doe ſecure ſinners who through hardneſſe of their heart cannot repent, […]

   • 1628, William Prynne, Healthes: Sicknesse. Or A Compendious and Briefe discourse; Prouing, the Drinking and Pledging of Healthes, to Be Sinfull, and Vtterly Vnlawfull vnto Christians by Arguments, Scriptures, Fathers, Moderne Diuines, Christian Authors, Historians, Councels; Imperiall Lawes and Constitutions; and by the Voyce and Verdict of Prophane and Heathen Writers: Wherein All Those Ordinary Obiections, Excuses, or Pretences Which Are Made to Iustifie, Extenuate, or Excuse the Drinking or Pledging of Healthes, Are Likewise Cleared and Answered.^{[1] (no ligatures at EEBO)}, London: […] [Augustine Mathewes]:

     Certainly, though I dare not antedate the ſorrowes of our Syon, or raiſe a feare or iealouſie without a ground; yet when I doe but ſeriouſly and cordially ſuruay, that intollerable pride; that aboundance of idleneſſe; that fulneſſe of bread; that luſting after ſtrange fleſh (the ſinnes that drew downe fire and brimſtone vpon Sodome long agoe;) thoſe monſtrous habites, faſhions and attires: that exceſſiue vanity, Atheiſme and prophaneneſſe: that execrable and frequent banning, ſwearing, curſing and blaſpheming: that greedie couetouſneſſe, extortion and oppreſſion; that fearefull murther and bloudſhed; that ſcurrility, effæminacie, wantonneſſe, fornication, whoredome, adulterie and vncleaneneſſe: that generall neglect, contempt and hatred of God, of grace, of goodneſſe, and the Goſpell: that ſtupified and ſenceleſſe ſecurity, and hardneſſe of heart, in the middeſt of feares and dangers: that degenerating and growing worſe and worſe, not withſtanding all Gods iudgements, which ſtill encreaſe vpon vs, becauſe our ſinnes encreaſe: that diſſoluteneſſe, that drunkenneſſe, deboiſtneſſe, and exceſſe of Healthes; together with thoſe other troopes of ſundry ſinnes, which walke ſo bold and thick among vs, in deſpite of all thoſe meanes which GOD hath vſed to reclaime vs from them: I cannot but conclude as others doe: that theſe abominations and ſinnes of ours (eſpecially in theſe times of feare and danger, which cry and call for true repentance) prognoſticate no victory, no good, no bleſſing, nor ſucceſſe: but vndoubted ruine and deſtruction to vs, vnleſſe we ſpeedily repent vs of them.

   • 1651, Noah Biggs, Matæotechnia medicinæ praxeōs, The vanity of the craft of physick, or, A new dispensatory wherein is dissected the errors, ignorance, impostures and supinities of the schools in their main pillars of purges, blood-letting, fontanels or issues, and diet, &c., and the particular medicines of the shops : with an humble motion for the reformation of the universities and the whole landscap [sic] of physick, and discovering the terra incognita of chymistrie : to the Parliament of England‎^[2], London: Printed for Edward Blackmore, page 95:

     But pearls and Corrall, and whatsoever else hath a saxatile hardnesse of shell-fish, must give place truly to gemmes for hardnesse; and yet they are not therefore digested in the Athanor of our Oeconomy, so well as in the stomack of some birds. But the stones of Bezoar and of Crabs &c. not so hard as pearls, are not of a saxatile nature: but are rather made of a lacteous semi-caseate & semi-petrified juice, and have a neutrall nature of a tophe, between a Cartilage and a stone.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English heardness; equivalent to hard +‎ -nesse.

Noun

hardnesse

1. hardness, the quality of being hard
   • c. 1380s, [Geoffrey Chaucer, William Caxton, editor], The Double Sorow of Troylus to Telle Kyng Pryamus Sone of Troye [...] [Troilus and Criseyde], [Westminster]: Explicit per Caxton, published 1482, →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], book II, [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio clxxx, recto:

     For truſteth wel, to longe ydone hardneſſe / Cauſeth diſpyte ful often for diſtreſſe

     For trust this well: Too long maintained hardness / Creates contempt from distress.

   • a. 1460, Reginald Pecock, edited by Elsie Vaughan Hitchcock, The Donet, Early English Text Society, published 1921:

     As it is forto se þingis present to þ^e siȝt, heere þ^e sown present to þ^e eeris, touche hardnesse, neischnes, heet, or coold present to þ^e touche, & so forþe of oþire.

     As it is to see things present to the sight, here the sound present to the ears, touch hardness, softness, heat, or cold present to the touch, and so forth of others.

Descendants

• English: hardness