[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality or condition of being fierce.
1. a. Formidable violence; intractable savageness of temper; vehement and merciless fury.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Macc. iv. 8. Dreede ȝe not inwardli the feersnesse of hem.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xviii. (1495), 123. Yf [the] chynne [of beestes] be broke all theyr cruelnes and fyersnes faylle.
1462. Political Poems (Rolls), II. 268.
| God smote the said Henry, for his gret fersnesse, | |
| With a lepre holdyng hym to hys ende fynally. |
1526. Tindale, Eph. iv. 31. Let all bitternes, fearsnes [θυμός] and wrath, rorynge and cursyd speakynge, be put awaye from you, with all maliciousnes.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 15. The females [elephants] are of greater fiercenesse then the males, and of much greater strength to beare burdens: they are sometimes taken with madnes, declaring the same by theyr furious running.
1695. Ld. Preston, Boeth., II. 74 note. The Fierceness of the People being not wholly subdued.
1712. Swift, A Proposal for Correcting … the English Tongue, 27. The same Defect of Heat which gives a Fierceness to our Natures, may contribute to that Roughness of our Language, which bears some Analogy to the harsh Fruit of colder Countries.
1865. Kingsley, Herew. (1866), II. ii. 28. The priest looked at him, with something of honest fierceness in his eyes.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 288, The Republic. He ends by becoming a hater of philosophy, uncivilized, never using the weapon of persuasion,—he is like a wild beast, all violence and fierceness, and knows no other way of dealing; and he lives in all ignorance and evil conditions, and has no sense of propriety and grace.
† b. Sternness, severity. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Rom. xi. 22. Therfore se and goodnesse, the feersnesse of God; sothli feersnesse in to hem that felden doun.
c. 1400. An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 17. Þe fersnes be noþer to mikil ne to litil.
1643. Milton, Divorce, Introduction. Mariage the Ordinance of our solace and contentment, the remedy of our lonelinesse will not admit now either of charity or mercy to come in and mediate or pacifie the fiercenes of this gentle Ordinance, the unremedied lonelines of this remedy.
† c. Bravery, high-spirit, mettle. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4824.
| The pouer of our pepull is plainly full hoge, | |
| And the fame of our fuersnes fares abrode. |
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn and Eglantine, iii. 18. For the fyersnes of the sayd courser, he was kept in a litil stable by him self.
1692. E. Walker, Epictetus’ Mor., xxxi.
| Who, when his Lordship frowns, admires the grace | |
| And manly fierceness, that adorns his face. |
d. Eagerness. † Const. to with inf.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, I. (1822), 73. That uthir limmare rasit his ax, and straik the king on the hede, and for fersnes to fle, left the ax stikkand in the kingis hede.
2. Of natural agents, disease; also of passions, conflict, etc.: Intense vehemence, furious activity.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, I. xxvii. 58. Grete ferisnes of turmentis.
1541. R. Copland, Galyen’s Terapeutyke, 2 C ij. Lay vpon the sayd vlceres a playster made of mytygant thynges, vntyll that the yre and fyersnesse be abated.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low C. Warres, 355. It proved very dangerous by the fierceness of the Frost and cold.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, VII. 1040.
| With cries and loud laments they fill the air, | |
| And curse the cruel gods, in fierceness of despair. |
1885. Manch. Exam., 29 June, 5/2. The present fierceness of trade competition throughout the world.
1891. E. Peacock, Narcissa Brendon, I. 271. The fierceness of the storm was over.
