Forms: 4 benfet, bynfet, benfait, (pl. benfes), 4–5 benefet(e, benfeet, beenfete, bienfait, -fet(e, 5 benefayte, benfeyte, bienfette, -faytte, 6 benifit(e, benyfyt, bunfyte, benefact, -faict, 7 benefit(t)e, -fict, 7– benefit. [ME. benfet, a. Afr. benfet, = CentralFr. bienfait:—L. benefactum good deed, kind action, lit. (a thing) well done, f. bene facĕre to do well. In 15–16th c. the first syllable was assimilated to the L.; the later change of the second syllable to -fit seems merely phonetic.]
† 1. A thing well done; a good or noble deed.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 621. Þe boldnesse of þi bienfetes maketh þe blynde þanne.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 187. Of every bienfait the merite The god him self it woll aquite.
1480. Caxton, Ovid’s Met., XIV. xi. Alle … that hade seen hys bienfayttes, wer mevyd wyth grace toward hym.
1811. Landor, Ct. Julian, Wks. 1846, II. 523. Man’s only relics are his benefits.
2. A kind deed, a kindness; a favor, gift. arch.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 436. Ȝif any man doth me a benfait [v.r. benfeet, bienfait, -fet, C bynfet].
c. 1430. Life St. Katharine (1884), 27. Þe sonne and þe mone … whos benefettys alle deedly creatures vse.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., 161. Rememoratyf syignes of God and of his Benefetis.
1526. Tindale, Acts xiv. 17. In that he shewed his benefaictes.
1557. N. T. (Geneva), Philemon 14. That thy benefit shuld not be as it were of necessitie, but willingly. 1611 ibid. [as prec.].
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. ii. 37. Her [Fortune’s] benefits are mightily misplaced.
1628. Hobbes, Thucyd. (1822), 63. For the men which thou hast saved … thy benefit is laid up in our house indelibly registerd.
† b. By (occas. through) the benefit of: by or through the kindness or favor of; by the agency or help of, by means of (a person or thing). Obs.
1538. Starkey, England, 14. By the bunfyte and powar of nature.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, IV. 51. By the benefitte of the third Muscle the shoulder blade is lifted vp.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 91. By the benefit of his wished light The seas waxt calme.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 23. He sall be made frie be the Kings benefite and decreit.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 181, ¶ 1. By the Benefit of Nature … Length of Time … blots out the violence of Afflictions.
c. A benefaction (in somewhat of a legal sense).
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. iv. 152. Accept the Title thou vsurp’st, Of benefit proceeding from our King, And not of any challenge of Desert. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., III. vii. 196. Take to your Royall selfe this proferr’d benefit of Dignitie.
3. Advantage, profit, good. (The ordinary sense.) For the benefit of: for the advantage of, on behalf of. † To take benefit of (a thing): to take advantage of, avail oneself of.
[1393. Gower, Conf., I. 304. Whan Jupiter this harm hath sein Another bienfait there ayein He yaf.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 362/2. We receyue dayly many bienfaites of this cyte.]
1512. Act 4 Hen. VIII., ii. § 2. He to have non avauntage or benefette of the matter alleged by hym.
1576. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 209. If you minded to haue benefit by the Roode of Grace.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxviii. 162. If the harm inflicted be lesse than the benefit.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 199, ¶ 2. Having long laboured for the benefit of mankind.
1789. Belsham, Ess., ix. I. 173. Government is an institution for the benefit of the people governed.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 28. I have an impression that temperance is a benefit and a good.
Mod. The jury gave the prisoner the benefit of the doubt.
b. A natural advantage or ‘gift.’
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. i. 34. Disable all the benefits of your owne Countrie. Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., I. ii. 115. When these so Noble benefits shall proue Not well dispos’d.
c. Law. The advantage of belonging to a privileged order which was exempted from the jurisdiction or sentence of the ordinary courts of law; the exemption itself: in the phrases Benefit of Clergy, Benefit of Peerage; see CLERGY, PEERAGE.
1488–9. Act 4 Hen. VII., xiii. (title), An act to take awaye the benefytt of Clergye from certayne persons.
1718. Hickes & Nelson, J. Kettlewell, II. § 56. 175. To this they Pleaded the Benefit of their Peerage.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist. (1876), I. ii. 58. In 1513 the benefit of clergy was entirely taken away from murderers and highway robbers.
d. Pecuniary advantage, profit, gain.
1592. No-body & Some-b. (1878), 336. The grand benefit you get by dice, Deceitfull Cards, and other cozening games.
1612. Davies, Discov. why Irel. (1787), 29. Why the King received no benefit of his land of Ireland.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 310, ¶ 2. My Estate is seven hundred Pounds a Year, besides the Benefit of Tin-Mines.
1885. Law Times Rep., LII. 706/1. The secretary transferred the benefit of his contract as to three of the lots to other persons.
4. Hence in special senses: a. A theatrical performance the receipts from which are given to a particular actor, the playwright, or some other person connected with the theater. (First granted to Mrs. Barry 16th Jan. 1687. Hist. Stage (1792), 29.)
[Cf. 1629. Sir H. Herbert, in Malone, Eng. Stage (1821), III. 177. The benefitt of the winters day from the kinges company … upon the play of ‘The Moor of Venice,’ comes, this 22 of Nov. 1629, unto 9l. 16s. 0d.]
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 1, ¶ 6. Acted for the Benefit of Mr. Betterton.
1721. Swift, Epil. to Play, Wks. 1755, III. II. 181. Actors, who at best are hardly savers, Will give a night of benefit to weavers?
1798. Times, 3 Oct., 1/1. Advt., Royal Circus. For the Benefit of Mr. Simpson.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, vi. She was going to have a benefit and appear as Ophelia.
† b. A prize in a lottery; a winning ticket. Obs.
1694. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 384. Yesterday 72 benefits were drawn in the million lottery.
1694. Lond. Gaz., No. 2968/2. That Benefit does belong to the Person that shall produce a Ticket of the same Number.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 202, ¶ 5. After their Number is drawn, whether it was a Blank or Benefit.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4903/4. The number’d Tickets entitled to Benefits in the Lottery. Ibid. (1715), No. 5326/3. The Tickets called Benefits [carry] an interest at the Rate of 4l. per Cent. per Ann.
† c. An ecclesiastical living, benefice, endowment. Obs.
1554. in Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. II. App. xvi. 40. Whether he doth bestow yearly the fift part of his benefit.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), IV. 86. Your Benefits you’ll keep, whilst another feeds the Sheep.
5. Comb. and attrib. (only in senses 4 and 5), as benefit-concert, -day, -night, -play; also benefit-club, -society, an association whose members, by the regular payment of small sums, are entitled to pecuniary help in time of age or sickness; also fig.; benefit-ticket, a winning ticket at a lottery (cf. 5 b.).
1812. Examiner, 11 May, 291/1. The *benefit club … forms something of a provision against adversity.
1817. Coleridge, Poems, 111. One Benefit-Club for mutual flattery.
1759. Johnson, in Boswell, I. 342. Mrs. Ogle … hopes by a *benefit concert to set herself free from a few debts.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 288, ¶ 3. The *Benefit Days of my Plays and Operas.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand. (1812), I. 439. My play … could not have been ready until the end of March, when the *benefit nights came on.
1824–9. Landor, Imag. Conv. (1846), I. 254. Their opera-girls vie in benefit-nights.
1740. Cibber, Apol. (1756), I. 120. The indulgence of having an annual *benefit-play.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (Rtldg.), 293. The *Benefit Societies … have money in the banks that would maintain the whole working classes … for six weeks.
1694. Luttrell, Brief. Rel. (1857), III. 382. Yesterday the million lottery drew 66 *benefit tickets.
