the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > kindness > [noun]
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > knowledge, what is known > familiarity > [noun]
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [noun] > homeliness or familiarity
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [noun] > homeliness or rusticity
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [noun]
the mind > attention and judgement > lack of beauty > [noun]
1402 T. Hoccleve Lepistre Cupide (Huntington) l. 132 in (1970) ii. 298 On maddyng he be so deepe broght, Þat he shende al with open hoomlynesse.
a1450 (c1395) Prefatory Epist. St. Jerome in (New Coll. Oxf.) (1850) iv. 64 Hooly homelynesse [a1425 E.V. cherlhed; L. rusticitas] in byleeue profitith to him silf aloone.
1557 R. Edgeworth xi. f. cciiv I thinke that yf we sawe nowe in oure time the tiringe of her, the dressing of her head, and the whomelines of her raiment, it woulde make vs laughe, and yet it was good and huswyfely for that time I doubte not.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Dionysius Antiochenus in 304 With homelines of style and basenesse of phrase.
1630 Bp. J. Hall §xlviii Homelinesse makes lesse show, and hath lesse danger.
1672 H. Herbert Narr. in (1990) XXX. 350 The Hollanders who delight in cleanlinesse as much as they doe in homlines.
1709 D. Manley (ed. 2) II. 69 Your Beauty (now so conspicuous) will quickly wither, by Time and Want, degenerated to Homeliness.
1764 R. Hurd 97 I have never hear'd that the loveliness of her [sc. Liberty's] form is impaired, or even disgraced, by the homeliness of her habitation.
1822 Aug. 160/2 The style is homely without being coarse; it is a homeliness characteristic of the age.
1885 J. H. Ewing ii. 17 The huts for married men and officers were of varying degrees of comfort and homeliness.
1927 S. Lewis vii. 108 The sitting-room had the homeliness of a New England farm-house, with hectically striped rag carpet.
1978 W. B. Hunter III. 113/2 His style gained strength from its directness and its homeliness.
2002 31 Dec. 25/4 Despite her extreme talent, she retains an ordinariness, homeliness and fallibility that every jogger in the park can relate to.