killingness en · NOUN
Etymology
From killing + -ness.
Meanings
-
(dated, uncountable) The quality of being devastatingly attractive.
[…] especially when these showy garments were set off with a large bunch of flowers in the hand, or on the breast, which most of the young fellows displayed with conscious killingness.
1840, Robert Bremner, Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, volume 1, page 314:[…] and they daily sent each other little billets, remarkable for the aristocratic contempt which they showed for orthography; and little patterns of head-dresses, quite as remarkable for their grace and "killingness."
1854, John Doran, Habits and Men, page 135: