Obs. Forms: see THESTER a. [OE. þéosternes, etc., f. þéostre, THESTER a. + -NESS.] Darkness. lit. and fig.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § 8. Þesternes. Ibid. (c. 893), Oros., VI. ii. § 3. Wearð micel þeosternes ofer eallne middanʓeard.
c. 1000. Ags. Hom. (ed. Assmann, 1889), 203. Þa com … þære nihte þysternys.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 61. Þe engles a-dun follon in to þe þosteresse hellen.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 277. Eure þer is vuel smech, þusternesse and eie.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16737. & menn ne lufenn nohht te lihht Acc lufenn þessterrnesse.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1942. Quiles he slep, In ðis ðisternesse, old and dep.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2191. Gon was þisternesse of þe nith.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 160. On a thoresday in thesternesse þus was he taken.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., ii. 12. Twynned shalbe throughe my mighte the lighte from Thesternes.
