preparednessn.

1590 J. Greenwood Answere Giffords Def. 25 Except you can make all assemblies..in the same preparednes to aske,..you can make no stinted prayers for them.

1640 R. Brathwait Two Lancs. Lovers i. 5 Yet shall we finde in the posterity of prompt and pregnant Parents, most commonly resemblances of that quicknesse and preparednesse in their children.

1655 H. L'Estrange Reign King Charles 265 Then..having prayed awhile, he gave the Executioner the token of his preparednesse, whereat the Heads-man..severed his head from his body.

1749 Visct. Bolingbroke Lett. Spirit Patriotism 59 Information, knowledge, and a certain constant preparedness for all the events that may arise.

1788 W. Gordon Hist. Independence U.S.A. II. vii. 385 Within that period, the Americans..acquired a preparedness for defence in every quarter.

1805 Times 16 Feb. 4/3 He would have triumphed over its weakness, and ascertained its preparedness to undergo the yoke.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. x. 564 Before two the capital wore a face of stern preparedness which might well have daunted a real enemy.

1852 E. E. Stuart Let. 26 May in R. Stuart et al. Stuart Lett. (1961) I. 345 Ere this you have, I hope, recd. Chalmers—a rich feast—elevated, instructive, weanedness from Earth, preparedness for Heaven.

1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. i. 14 Resource in moments of crisis is largely a matter of preparedness.

1978 S. Biko I write what I Like xiv. 97 Our preparedness to take upon ourselves the cudgels of the struggle will see us through.

1993 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 38 65 The level of preparedness assumed on the part of the reader varies somewhat but in general at least one course in theoretical syntax is presupposed.