[f. LOFTY a. + -NESS.] The attribute of being lofty, in senses of the adj.
1548. Elyot, Dict., Elatio, loftynesse, hautenesse.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Isa. ii. 17. The loftines of men shalbe abased.
1607. Markham, Caval., II. (1617), 198. Gallop the straite ring about with a little more firme loftinesse.
1610. Barrough, Meth. Physick, IV. ii. (1639), 219. Their face is red, and there is a loftinesse of the pulses.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. i. 91. His speech, In loftiness of sound, was rich.
a. 1677. Barrow, Wks. (1686), III. xxii. 248. He [Solomon] did himself compose above a thousand songs; whereof one yet extant declareth the loftiness of his fancy.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xxxi. III. 218. The loftiness of these buildings … was the cause of frequent and fatal accidents.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. On Some Old Actors. Bensley … threw over the part an air of Spanish loftiness.
a. 1840. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., Ser. III. (1873), 194. Martin gained more by loftiness than others by servility.
1884. Manch. Exam., 27 Nov., 5/5. A … chamber … 160 feet long … and of a corresponding loftiness.
1885. Sir W. M. Conway, in Mag. Art, Sept., 463/1. Men … of dignity of thought and loftiness of feeling.
b. Used as a mock title of dignity.
1599. Broughton’s Lett., vii. 21. Were he so vnlearned, as your Loftines makes him.
