Stillness

[OE. stilnes, -nys, f. stille adj. See STILL a. and -NESS. Cf. OHG. stilnissi.] The condition or quality of being still.

  1.  Absence of movement or physical disturbance; motionlessness.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxxi. 1053. Heo oncneow sona þæt heo alysed wæs and læg aþenod ætforan his fotum onfangenre stilnysse.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 475/2. Stylnesse, wytheowt mevynge, tranquillitas.

1585.  Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 363/2. Malacia,… calmenesse or stillnesse of the sea.

1617.  Purchas, Pilgrimage, IV. xviii. (ed. 3), 498. A pleasant Riuer of fresh water, if it may not rather be called a Lake for the stillnesse.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, IV. ii. 20. They will admire as much at the stilness of our station, and dulness of our constant dwelling in one place.

1711.  Swift, Cond. Allies, 10. If a House be on fire,… those at next Door may escape, by a Shower from Heaven, or the stillness of the Weather.

1845.  Maurice, Mor. Philos., in Encycl. Metrop., II. 614/1. The capacity of health and sickness is the same; of stillness and movement; of being raised up and of falling down.

1876.  Geo. Eliot, Deronda, vii. The background of green and grey stillness.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, ii. She … would have been rather handsome but for her extreme stillness, coldness, and want of colour.

1898.  Flor. Montgomery, Tony, 19. The stillness of his figure and his utter silence.

1908.  [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 12. The stillness often betokens rain.

  2.  Freedom from tumult, strife or agitation; tranquillity.

c. 888.  Ælfred, Boeth., vii. § 1. Forðæm þu eart eac nu of þinre stilnesse ahworfen.

a. 1122.  O. E. Chron. (MS. C.), an. 1065. Her wearð Harold eac to kynge ʓehalʓod & he lytle stillnesse þar on ʓebad þa hwile þe he rices weold.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 115. He scal … beon on erfeðnesse anred and edmod on stilnesse.

1388.  Wyclif, Isa. xxxii. 17. The tilthe of riȝtfulnesse schal be stilnesse and sikirnesse.

1663.  Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim, xvii. (1687), 166. Prayer is the silence of our Souls: the stilness and calm of all our Passions.

1807.  Wordsw., White Doe, IV. 150. On my Mind A passive stillness is enjoined.

1828.  Lytton, Pelham, xliii. That air of perfect repose—the stillness of a deep soul, which rests over their writings.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. I love quietness, stillness—being with a few people I like.

  3.  Silence; freedom from noise; abstinence from speech, taciturnity.

c. 1050.  in Assmann, Ags. Hom., xii. 7. Þæt we … mid micelre eadmodnysse & stilnysse us to urum drihtne ʓebiddan.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 156. Of þisse stilnesse he spekeð þer biuoren lutel.

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Boeth., II. pr. 1. l. 2. After that she hadde gadered by atempre stillenesse [modesta taciturnitate] myn attencioun.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 475/2. Stylnesse, nowt spekynge … taciturnitas, silencium.

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., V. i. 56. Soft stilnes, and the night Become the tutches of sweet harmonie.

1663.  Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim (1687), 177. Who all this while had been in a profound stilness.

1750.  Gray, Elegy, 6. All the air a solemn stillness holds.

1784.  J. King, Cook’s 3rd Voy., V. iv. III. 55. We afterward saw the natives flying, the boats retire from the shore, and passing and repassing, in great stillness, between the ships.

1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 425. A certain stillness and gravity of manner, perhaps in some degree peculiar to commercial people.

1821.  Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Quaker’s Meeting. What is the stillness of the desert, compared with this place?

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xii. The darkness and the deep stillness of the room were very solemn.

1843.  Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), I. 28. Wordsworth, read in the stillness of a mountain hollow, has the force of the mountain waters.

1892.  Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, 174. They are lifting their heads in the stillness to yelp at the English flag!

  † b.  Secrecy. Obs.

a. 1400.  Hymns Virgin, etc. (1895), 110. Stele þou nouȝt þi neiȝebors þing, Nouþur wiþ stillenes ne wiþ strif.

a. 1779.  Warburton, Serm., vi. Wks. 1788, V. 105. In all the depth and stillness of Politics.

  4.  Quietness of temper or behavior; freedom from turbulence or self-assertion. (See also STILL a. 4 d.)

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 414. Marie dole is stilnesse and reste of alle worldes noise.

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1013. But we labour in trauaillous stilnesse.

a. 1564.  Becon, Commonpl. Script., Wks. III. 93. The goodman with stilnesse and pacience taryeth for y^e health of the Lorde.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., III. i. 4. In Peace, there ’s nothing so becomes a man, As modest stillnesse, and humilitie.

1738.  Wesley, Hymns ‘Meek, patient Lamb of God,’ ii. Give me in Stillness to sustaine Whate’er thy Wisdom shall ordain. Ibid. (1745), Answ. Ch., 19. Your Notion of True Stillness is, ‘A patient waiting upon God.’