Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
wildernesse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
wildernesse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
wildernesse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
wildernesse you have here. The definition of the word
wildernesse will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
wildernesse, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Noun
wildernesse (plural wildernesses)
- Obsolete spelling of wilderness.
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, , quarto edition, London: V S for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:O my poore kingdome! ſicke with ciuill blowes: / VVhen that my care could not withhold thy riots, / VVhat wilt thou do when riot is thy care? / O thou wilt be a wilderneſſe againe, / Peopled with woolues, thy old inhabitants.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 71, column 2:What ſhould I thinke, / Heauen ſhield my Mother plaid my Father faire: / For ſuch a warped ſlip of wilderneſſe / Nere iſſu'd from his blood.- What should I think? / Heaven forbid, my mother must have been unfaithful to my father, / For such a warped descendant of wildness / Never issued from his blood.
c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 66, column 2:he virgins thou haſt rob'd of all their wiſhes, / blaſted their blowing hopes, turn'd their ſongs, / their mirthful Marriage-ſongs to Funerals, / the Land thou haſt left a wilderneſſe of wretches.
1626, Purchas, “Of the Religious Votaries amongst the Turkes, and of Their Saints, Sects, Miracles, and Hypocriticall Holinesse”, in Purchas His Pilgrimes. , 5th part, London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, , →OCLC, book, page 315:Strange it is, that he reporteth of the miraculous workes of ſome of them, that they may ſeeme (as he ſaith) incarnate Deuils: […] ſome dwell amongſt men, ſome by themſelues apart, and ſome in Wilderneſſe: […]