overkindness

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

overkind +‎ -ness

Noun[edit]

overkindness (uncountable)

  1. Excessive kindness.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
      O noble sir,
      Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me!
    • 1908, James Prior, chapter 12, in A Walking Gentleman[1], New York: Dutton, page 108:
      The pony stepped out at an invariable ten-mile-an-hour trot. The breeze raised by the motion tempered the overkindness of the sun []
    • 1959, George O. Smith, The Fourth “R”[2], Dell, published 1979, Chapter , p. 37:
      He had no intention of enduring this smothering by overkindness any longer than it took him to figure out how to run away, and where to run to.