nakednessn.
/ˈneɪkᵻdnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈneɪkᵻdnᵻs/ 1. † b. A naked person. Obsolete. rare.
a. The state or condition of being unclothed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > wearing clothing > nakedness or state of being unclothed > [noun]
nakedOE
nakedOE
nakednessOE
nakedheadc1330
nudity1611
the (also a) state of nature1802
nudeness1848
in the nude1856
clotheslessness1883
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxvii. 404 He wæs gelomlice on micelre fræcednysse æigþer ge on sæ ge on lande..on hungre & on þurste & on manegum wæccum, on cyle, & on næcednysse.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) ix. 23 Eodon underbæc & beheledon heora fæderes gecynd, swa ðæt hi ne gesawon his næcednysse.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Royal) Apoc. iii. 18 I counseile thee..that thou..be clothid with whijte clothis, that the confusioun of thi nakidnesse [L. nuditatis] appere not.
c1395 G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 866 To yow broght I noght ellis..But feith and nakednesse and maydenhede.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) 23089 (MED) Bi nakudnes whenne I toke harm, wiþ cloþing ȝe made me warm.
c1450 J. Capgrave Solace of Pilgrims (Bodl. 423) (1911) 30 (MED) Þe schap of her body was open to alle men be cause of her nakednesse.
1578 T. Nicholas tr. F. Lopez de Gómara Pleasant Hist. Conquest W. India 137 Some of us vsed other clothe to couer our nakednesse.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 172 A black vaile,..through which the nakednesse of their shoulders..may be seene.
1653 R. Codrington Lloyd's Marrow of Hist. (new ed.) iv. 39 The women.., lifting up their cloaths, shewing their nakedness [1573 priuities].
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 217 As Father of his Familie he clad Thir nakedness with Skins of Beasts. View more context for this quotation
c1718 M. Prior Pallas & Venus 16 Thou to be strong must put off every dress; Thy only armour is thy nakedness.
1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall IV. xliv. 347 He concealed his nakedness with a linen towel.
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. i. 15 What..[are] dressing and undressing but stinging remembrancers of the privileged nakedness of the savage?
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover xvi. 299 She saw her own nakedness in his eyes.
1981 E. Jolley Newspaper Claremont St. (1987) ii. 13 If she surprised people in their nakedness that was their affair.
1996 PC World Aug. 34/2 The artist alone sees Campaspe's nakedness.
ΚΠ
1885 Pall Mall Gaz. 20 May 3/1 The fair nakednesses who look down unabashed upon the well-dressed crowd.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > simplicity > [noun] > freedom from ornament > unnecessary
nakednessa1500
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > plainness > [noun]
outspeakingc1450
plainness1465
simplicity?a1475
homeliness1576
parrhesia1577
planiloquy1658
plain speaking?c1663
nakedness1711
incomplexity1778
outspokennessa1786
plain-spokenness1840
gracility1900
a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 105 (MED) The barenys and þe nakydnes of þe auter signifieþ þat Crist in his passion was nakyd to hem.
a1630 F. Moryson in Shakespeare's Europe (1903) iv. iii. 379 No people of Europe..vseth lesse Ceremonyes.., doing all such thinges without any ostentation, yea with great simplicity and nakednes.
1711 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1889) III. 173 Much admiring the Simplicity and Nakedness of ye Style.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 85. ⁋4 Nature in her Simplicity and Nakedness.
1784 W. J. Mickle Let. 8 Feb. in T. Warton Corr. (1995) iii. 492 From its nakedness & manner [he thinks it] pretty old & conjectures it is a translation of the provençal poetry.
3. Destitution, poverty. Frequently figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > [noun] > extreme poverty or destitution
nakedness1526
starkness1544
beggary1581
destitutiona1600
primary poverty1901
down-and-outness1907
Tobacco Road1937
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 8 Where shall be no sycknes, no necessite nor nakednes.
1576 W. Lambarde Perambulation of Kent 121 By decay of the hauen..it is brought in manner to miserable nakednesse and decaye.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 315 This penury, nakednesse, and abiection.
1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 46 The lofty nakednesse of your Latinizing Barbarian.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews I. ii. ii. 140 He..discovered the Nakedness of his Pockets. View more context for this quotation
1754 W. Pitt Let. 14 Jan. in Lett. to Nephew (1804) 23 Exposing the nakedness and emptiness of the mind.
1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. xxix. 251 It is this nakedness of resources..that makes our position one of bitterness.
1873 P. G. Hamerton Intellect. Life iii. iv. 95 The result would be simple intellectual nakedness.
1935 Amer. Mercury Feb. 241/1 In most contemporary newspapers, politico-economic reaction generally goes hand in hand with intellectual nakedness.
1990 M. Roberts In Red Kitchen (1991) 39 For the nuns, an unbaptized baby was in a condition of spiritual nakedness, illness and danger.
4. Openness to attack or injury; vulnerability, defencelessness. Chiefly in nakedness of the land [with allusion to Genesis 42:9; see quot. 1611] , now usually in weakened sense.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [noun] > liability to harm, loss, etc. > action or condition of exposure to harm > unprotectedness
nakednessa1586
openness1587
exposedness1620
obviousness1669
defencelessness1683
unguardedness1818
unprotectedness1819
fencelessness1856
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xi. f. 289 Till seeing his time fit, both for distaunce and nakednes, he strake him so cruell a blow [etc.].
1589 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1881) 1st Ser. IV. 427 I wes allane, without fader or moder, bruthir or suster... This my naikatnes maid me to be waik.
a1591 H. Smith Serm. (1866) II. 40 It grieves me..to discover the nakedness of my countrymen.
1611 Bible (King James) Gen. xlii. 9 Ye are spies: to see the nakednes of the land you are come. View more context for this quotation
1658 in H. Lumsden Rec. Trades House Glasgow (1910) I. 359 The quhick procedour..hath occasioned much discovery of our awin neakedness to strangers.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 62 Being conscious I was a true man, and not come to spy the nakedness of the land, I scarce thought I laid at their mercy.
1826 J. F. Cooper Last of Mohicans I. xiv. 215 To spy out the nakedness of Montcalm's camp from this spot.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Cape Cod (1865) vii. 125 The inhabitants travel the waste..pilgrim-wise and staff in hand, by narrow footpaths, through which the sand flows out and reveals the nakedness of the land.
1891 W. Morris News from Nowhere xxiii. 174 Well, guests, so you have been looking about to search into the nakedness of the land.
1989 M. Spufford Celebration i. 16 I hesitated, and still hesitate, to expose my family and myself to the nakedness the attempt to tell my story would bring.
5. Absence of disguise or concealment; openness, exposure; the state of a thing when not disguised or concealed. In quot. 1661: †a feature that should be kept concealed (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > manifestness > openness or unconcealedness > [noun]
daylight1530
nakedness1600
publicness1748
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iv. i. 177 Why seekst thou then to couer with excuse, That which appeares in proper nakednesse ? View more context for this quotation
1661 A. Marvell Let. 1 June in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 28 I would not tell you any tales because there are nakednesses wch it becomes us to cover if it be possible.
1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 66 I could wish..to spy the nakedness of their hearts.
1794 T. Jefferson Let. 28 Dec. in Writings (1984) 1016 Everybody..views the abstract attempt on their natural & constitutional rights in all it's nakedness.
1820 P. B. Shelley Ode to Liberty xvi, in Prometheus Unbound 221 Till in the nakedness of false and true They stand before their Lord.
1885 Manch. Examiner 30 Dec. 5/3 None of us have as yet gone to the length of avowing this design in all its nakedness.
1943 A. Rand Fountainhead ii. iii. 241 This made the skull look tight and trim, but left too much emphasis to the ears that flared out in solitary nakedness, like the handles of a bouillon cup.
1968 D. Moraes My Son's Father x. 189 I would be confronted then, suddenly, by a hostile person, not the person I knew, a person whose emotions were bared with a nakedness that appalled me.
1995 Sun (Baltimore) 8 Oct. j4/3 What draws me to the opera house is..delight in the delicious nakedness of pure song.
6. Bareness due to absence of vegetation or other signs of life; desolation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > wild or uncultivated land > [noun] > barren land or desert > condition of
barrennessa1425
nakedness1750
aridity1835
baldness1840
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > uncovering > [noun] > stripping or uncovering so as to leave bare > stripped or bare condition
nudationa1500
bareness1552
nudity1611
nakedness1750
denudation1816
starkness1824
denudement1831
strippedness1856
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > simplicity > [noun] > freedom from ornament
nakedness1859
1750 S. Johnson Rambler No. 80. ⁋4 The nakedness and asperity of the wintry world.
1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais xlix. 23 Where..fragrant copses dress The bones of Desolation's nakedness.
1822 W. Cobbett Rural Rides (1885) I. 98 Those very ugly things, common-fields, which have all the nakedness, without any of the smoothness, of Downs.
1859 J. M. Jephson & L. Reeve Narr. Walking Tour Brittany viii. 107 The broken arches..and desolate nakedness of the cathedral.
1990 D. McCullin Unreasonable Behaviour xxxi. 225 I longed for winter, for the abrasive struggle with the weather and the nakedness of the landscape.
7. Absence of hairs, scales, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [noun] > absence of hairs or scales
nakedness1851
depilation1877
1851 W. B. Carpenter Man. Physiol. (ed. 2) 397 This order..is further distinguished..by the softness and nakedness of the skin.
1873 St. G. Mivart Lessons Elem. Anat. vii. 243 In Batrachians..we find a nakedness of skin greater even than in man.
1908 Science 17 July 87/1 All the characters..which are transmitted in a perfect state to some of the offspring and not to others—such as distinct colors, nakedness of skin, etc.
1992 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 5 Feb. 13 The featherless, peltless nakedness that must be an evolutionary joke for the members of our species living north and south of the tropics.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.OE- big oil
- big on
- big one
- big or great toe
- big or great toe mickle toe
- big or great white chief
- big pay
- big pharma
- big picture
- big piecer
- big pot
- big property
- big rain
- big ready
- big rig
- big rigs
- big rip
- big rock candy mountain
- big sandy boorachs
- big school
- big science
- big screen
- big shot
- billowbeaten
- billowbred