also 4–5 benefise, beny-, 6 benifice. [f. prec. sb. Cf. OF. beneficier.] trans. To endow or invest with a benefice or church living.
c. 1383. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 330. A worldly clerk … is preised and benefised among grete men.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 186. Hue blesseþ [MS. F (a 1500) benefiseth] þese byshopys.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 400. Certayne aliauntes, whiche were rychely benyficed in Englande.
1608. T. James, Life Wickliffe, K iv. He had sometimes before beene … beneficed in Oxford.
1826. Southey, in Q. Rev., XXXIV. 338. The many eminent men who have been beneficed in that cathedral.
Hence Beneficed ppl. a. holding a benefice.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xxvii. 385. Benefist Men and Chanownis … Of þat kyrk.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. 28 b. The secular Priestes: which are partly beneficed men, that is to saye, haue benefices whereupon to liue.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4034/1. The humble Address of the … Beneficed Clergy.
1850. Lytton, My Novel, V. x. 250. Your father was such a respectable man—beneficed clergyman!
