[f. SUCH a. + -NESS.] The condition or quality of being such; quality.
In occasional use only, exc. in the language of modern philosophy.
c. 960. Æthelwold, Rule St. Benet (Schröer, 1885), 89. Sy ʓebroðrum reaf ʓeseald be swilcnesse and staþele þære stowe þe hy on wuniað.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 260. Mid sumum oðrum mete ʓemencgedne be þære swylcnysse þe seo untrumnys þonne byð.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., To Rdr. Either as they have Beings from God, or a Suchness of being from our handy-work. Ibid., 94, 182.
1842. Sir W. Hamilton, Diss., in Reid’s Wks. (1846), 856/2. The Primary [Qualities of Body] are less properly denominated Qualities (Suchnesses).
1878. W. Barnes, Engl. Speech-craft, 12. Mark-words or mark-wording of suchness, as good, bad, long, heavy.
1899. Dziewicki, Wyclif’s De Logica, III. Introd. p. xxvii. Becoming is a change, not of the subject, but of its ‘suchness.’
