Part 1046

<hw>Ben`e*fac"tress</hw>, <tt>n.</tt> <def>A woman who confers a benefit.</def>

<blockquote>His <b>benefactress</b> blushes at the deed. <i>Cowper.</i></blockquote>

<h1>Benefic</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Be*nef"ic</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>beneficus</ets>. See <er>Benefice</er>.]</ety> <def>Favorable; beneficent.</def>

<i>Milton.</i>

<h1>Benefice</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Ben"e*fice</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[F. <ets>b\'82n\'82fice</ets>, L. <ets>beneficium</ets>, a kindness , in LL. a grant of an estate, fr. L. <ets>beneficus</ets> beneficent; <ets>bene</ets> well + <ets>facere</ets> to do. See <er>Benefit</er>.]</ety>

<p><b>1.</b> <def>A favor or benefit.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<i> Baxter.</i>

<p><b>2.</b> <fld>(Feudal Law)</fld> <def>An estate in lands; a fief.</def>

<note>&hand; Such an estate was granted at first for life only, and held on the mere good pleasure of the donor; but afterward, becoming hereditary, it received the appellation of <i>fief</i>, and the term <i>benefice</i> became appropriated to church livings.</note>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>An ecclesiastical living and church preferment, as in the Church of England; a church endowed with a revenue for the maintenance of divine service. See <er>Advowson</er>.</def>

<note>&hand; All church preferments are called <i>benefices</i>, except bishoprics, which are called <i>dignities</i>. But, ordinarily, the term <i>dignity</i> is applied to bishoprics, deaneries, archdeaconries, and prebendaryships; <i>benefice</i> to parsonages, vicarages, and donatives.</note>

<h1>Benefice</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Ben"e*fice</hw>, <tt>v. t.</tt> <wordforms>[<tt>imp. & p. p.</tt> <er>Beneficed</er>.]</wordforms> <def>To endow with a benefice.</def> <note>[Commonly in the past participle.]</note>

<h1>Beneficed</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Ben"e*ficed</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Possessed of a benefice o<?/ church preferment.</def> "<i>Beneficed</i> clergymen."

<i> Burke.</i>

<h1>Beneficeless</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Ben"e*fice*less</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <def>Having no benefice.</def> "<i>Beneficeless</i> precisians."

<i>Sheldon.</i>

<h1>Beneficence</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Be*nef"i*cence</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <ety>[L. <ets>beneficentia</ets>, fr. <ets>beneficus</ets>: cf. F. <ets>b\'82n\'82ficence</ets>. See <er>Benefice</er>.]</ety> <def>The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness.</def>

<blockquote>And whose <b>beneficence</b> no charge exhausts. <i>Cowper.</i></blockquote>

<syn>Syn. -- See <er>Benevolence</er>.</syn>

<h1>Beneficent</h1> <Xpage=136>

<hw>Be*nef`i*cent</hw> <tt>(?)</tt><def>, a. Doing or producing good; performing acts of kindness and charity; characterized by beneficence.</def>

<blockquote>The <b>beneficent</b> fruits of Christianity. <i>Prescott.</i></blockquote>