Note: This is an old sense of the word, supposed by Johnson, Nares, and others, to have been derived from the old rite of blessing a field by directing the hands to all parts of it. "In drawing [their bow] some fetch such a compass as though they would turn about and bless all the field." Ascham.
Bless me! Bless us! an exclamation of surprise. Milton. — To bless from, to secure, defend, or preserve from. "Bless me from marrying a usurer." Shak. To bless the doors from nightly harm. Milton. — To bless with, To be blessed with, to favor or endow with; to be favored or endowed with; as, God blesses us with health; we are blessed with happiness.
BLESSED
Bless"ed, a.
1. Hallowed; consecrated; worthy of blessing or adoration; heavenly; holy. O, run; prevent them with thy humble ode, And lay it lowly at his blessed feet. Milton.
2. Enjoying happiness or bliss; favored with blessings; happy; highly
favored.
All generations shall call me blessed. Luke i. 48.
Towards England's blessed shore. Shak.
3. Imparting happiness or bliss; fraught with happiness; blissful; joyful. "Then was a blessed time." "So blessed a disposition." Shak.
4. Enjoying, or pertaining to, spiritual happiness, or heavenly felicity; as, the blessed in heaven. Reverenced like a blessed saint. Shak. Cast out from God and blessed vision. Milton.
5. (R. C. Ch.)
Defn: Beatified.
6. Used euphemistically, ironically, or intensively. Not a blessed man came to set her