WordWealth: benison

ben·i·son , n.

benediction.

[1250–1300; ME < AF beneiçon, MF beneison < L benedictiōn- BENEDICTION] (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

She came on a diplomatic mission, wanting to pick the wise Solomon's brains; she also - having regaled him with gold, gems and spices - negotiated a trading arrangement between their kingdoms. In 1748 that hard-headed summit meeting was dramatised by Handel in his oratorio Solomon. Here the king, enriched by Jehovah's favour, displays for his guest the benison of affluence: he has little use for the minerals and balsam she offers, since - as he flutingly sings - 'gold now is common on our happy shore'. Sanctimoniously smug, he represents an ideal image of the imported Hanoverian monarchy. Handel's Sheba prostrates herself and departs like a humbled provincial, vowing never to forget the intimidating splendour Solomon has displayed to her. —— Peter Conrad; I am Not a Woman But a World; The Guardian; May 26 2002

In the beginning, Gibran's small estate was worth some $50,000, benison enough for a village of ten thousand souls. —— Stefan Kanfer; 'But is it not strange that elephants will yield -- and that The Prophet is still popular?; New York Times, June 25, 1972

Yet to be with him was a benison, a curiously exhilarating and anarchic experience, as the lightning celerity of his thought processes took you on a kind of helter-skelter ride of surreal non-sequiturs, sudden accesses of emotion and ribald asides, made all the more bizarre for being uttered in those honeyed tones by the impeccably elegant gent before you. —— Simon Callow, 'A Life Full of Frolics'; The Guardian, May 19, 2001

Related word: benediction

ben·e·dic·tion , n.

1. an utterance of good wishes.

2. the form of blessing pronounced by an officiating minister, as at the close of divine service.

3. a ceremony by which things are set aside for sacred uses, as a church, vestments, or bells.

4. (usually cap.) Also called Benedic'tion of the Bless'ed Sac'rament. a service consisting of prayers, at least one prescribed hymn, censing of the congregation and the Host, and a blessing of the congregation by moving in the form of a cross the ciborium or monstrance containing the Host.

5. the advantage conferred by blessing; a mercy or benefit.

[1400–50; late ME (< MF) < L benedictiōn- (s. of benedictiō). See BENEDICTUS, -ION]

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