Dictionary

almsful en · ADJ

Etymology

From alms + -ful.

Meanings

1. (archaic) Likely to give alms; charitable.
   • Many a testator would have echoed the request of Fastolf that his goods might be so faithfully distributed in " almsful deeds and charitable works " that he might obtain "the more hasty deliverance of his soul from the painful flames of the fire of Purgatory." 1893, William James Ashley, An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory, page 136:
   • A pure, warm-hearted woman, blamelessly She liv'd her noble life ; her almsful soul No truce of giving knew ; she made the days Happier for all. 1873, Godfrey Egremont, Poems and songs, page 45:
   • In a few moments she passed nearby the penniless man, at whom she hardly glanced, — but saw enough, however, to be seized by a melancholia, and to produce a purse from a fold of her grey-silk muff, for her little heart is almsful and commpassionate. 1975, Quarterly Review of Literature - Volume 19, Issues 3-4, page 20:

Forms