Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLISS, n. [Sax. bliss, joy, alacrity, exultation; blissian, to rejoice, to exult, to congratulate, to applaud; also blithsian, to rejoice. See Bless and Blithe.]

The highest degree of happiness; blessedness; felicity; used of felicity in general, when of an exalted kind, but appropriately, of heavenly joys. – Hooker. Pope.

BLISS'FUL, a.

Full of joy and felicity; happy in the highest degree. – Spenser.

BLISS'FUL-LY, adv.

In a blissful manner. – Sherwood.

BLISS'FUL-NESS, n.

Exalted happiness; felicity; fullness of joy. – Barrow.

BLISS'LESS, a.

Destitute of bliss. – Hawkins.

BLIS'SOM, v.i. [W. blys, blysiaw, to crave, that is, to reach forward.]

To be lustful; to caterwaul. [Little used.]

BLISS-PRO-DU'CING, a.

Producing bliss.

BLIS'TER, n. [Ger. blase, and blatter. It is radically the same word as bladder, in a different dialect. See Bladder, Blast, and Blaze.]

1. A pustule; a thin bladder on the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn, or other injury, or by a vesicatory. It is formed by raising the cuticle.
2. Any tumor made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel.
3. A vesicatory; a plaster of flies, or other matter, applied to raise a vesicle.

BLIS'TER, v.t.

To rise in blisters. – Dryden.

BLIS'TER, v.t.

1. To raise a blister, by any hurt, burn, or violent action upon the skin; to raise a blister by a medical application, or vesicatory.
2. To raise tumors on iron bars in a furnace, in the process of converting iron into steel.

BLIS'TER-ED, pp.

Having blisters or tumors.

BLIS'TER-ING, ppr.

Raising a blister; applying a blistering plaster, or vesicatory.

BLIS'TER-Y, a.

Full of blisters.

BLITE, n. [L. blitum; Gr. βλιτον.]

1. A genus of plants, called Strawberry Spinach. – Encyc.
2. A species of Amaranth, or flower-gentle. – Fam. of Plants.

BLITHE, a. [Sax. blithe, and bleatha, bleathe, gay, joyful. This is probably the same word as bliss; L. lætus; Eng. glad. See Bliss and Glad. The Ir. lith, happiness, seems to be the original word without the prefix.]

Gay; merry; joyous; sprightly; mirthful. For that fair female troop thou sawest, that seemed / Of goddesses, so blithe, so smooth, so gay. – Milton.

BLITHE'FUL, a.

Gay; full of gayety.

BLITHE'LY, adv.

In a gay, joyful manner.

BLITHE'NESS, n.

Gayety; sprightliness; the quality of being blithe.

BLITHE'SOME, a.

Gay; merry; cheerful. – Philips.

BLITHE'SOME-NESS, n.

The quality of being blithesome; gayety.

BLOAT, a.

Swelled; turgid. [Not used.]

BLOAT, v.i.

To grow turgid; to dilate. – Arbuthnot.

BLOAT, v.t. [This word may be allied to bladder, from the sense of inflating, swelling; W. blwth, a puff, a blast; blythaç, a fat paunch, a bloated person.]

1. To swell or make turgid, as with air; to inflate; to puff up; hence, to make vain; followed by up, but without necessity. To bloat up with praise, is less elegant than to bloat with praise. – Dryden.
2. To swell or make turgid with water, or other means; as, a bloated limb. It is used to denote a morbid enlargement, often accompanied with softness.

BLOAT'ED, pp.

Swelled; grown turged; inflated.

BLOAT'ED-NESS, n.

A turgid state; turgidness; dilatation from inflation, debility, or any morbid cause. – Arbuthnot.