comfort

plural comforts

1. countableuncountableContentment, ease.

   Sleep in comfort with our new mattress.

   4 more examples

   But all was in vain: For having ranged up and down the Woods for ſome days, without finding the leaſt comfort to their hungry deſires, they were forced to return again unto the River. […] At laſt they arrived at the Coaſt of the Sea, where they found ſome comfort and relief to their former miſeries, and alſo means to ſeek more.

   1684, chapter III, in Bucaniers of America: Or, A True Account of the Moſt Remarkable Aſſaults Committed of Late Years Upon the Coaſts of the West-Indies, by Bucaniers of Jamica and Tortuga, Both English and French; Wherein are Contained More Eſpecially, the Unparallel'd Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, Our Engliſh Jamaican Hero, who ſack'd Puerto Velo, Burnt Panama. &c [Part II], volume 1, London: Printed for William Crooke, translation of De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, […] by John Eſquemeling, page 30

   How often is the comfort of a whole family abridged by some trifling circumstance, that ought not to have made a visible impression!

   1850, T. S. Arthur, “A Rise in the Butter Market”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 59

   In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

   1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “An Unexpected Party”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 15

   I can make money from the comfort of my sofa / So much drive, now I gotta get a chauffeur

   2024, “Hot One”, in King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2, performed by Denzel Curry

   Antonyms: austerity

2. countableuncountableSomething that offers comfort.

   the comforts of home

   1 more example

   Coordinate term: glimmer (2020s, neologism; a happy moment)

3. countableuncountableA consolation; something relieving suffering or worry.

   We still have the spare tire? That's a comfort at least.

   Synonyms: liss, solace, alleviation, consolation, ease, mercy, liss, release

4. countableuncountableA cause of relief or satisfaction.

   The outcome of the peace negotiations in Moscow in 1940 was a heavy blow to the young nation, but in the same time a great comfort: at least the independency was preserved.

present singular third person comforts · participle present comforting · participle past comforted · past comforted

1. transitiveTo relieve the distress or suffering of; to provide comfort to.

   Rob comforted Aaron because he was lost and very sad.

   2 more examples

   Shew me a token foꝛ good, that they which hate me may ſee it, and bee aſhamed: becauſe thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comfoꝛted me.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 86:17

   Light, above all things, excelleth in comforting the spirits of men.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: besoothe, console

2. obsoleteTo make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate.

   God's own testimony […] doth not a little comfort and confirm the same.

   [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)

3. obsoleteTo assist or help; to aid.

   I […] cannot help the noble chevalier: / God comfort him in this necessity!

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]

plural Comforts

1. countableuncountableA surname.
2. countableuncountableA female given name.
3. A place in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableA township in Kanabec County, Minnesota.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Jones County, North Carolina.
   3. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Kendall County, Texas.
   4. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Boone County, West Virginia.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in the town of Weston, Dunn County, Wisconsin.