sickerness

English

Etymology

From Middle English sikirnes, sikernesse, Old English sicornes (“certainty; secureness”), equivalent to sicker (“secure”) +‎ -ness.

Noun

sickerness (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) the state, condition, or quality of being certain; certainty; assurance.
  2. (archaic) security; safety; freedom from danger.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii:
      Lightly she leaped, as a wight forlore, / From her dull horse, in desperate distresse, / And to her feet betooke her doubtfull sickernesse.
    • 1980, John Skelton, ‎Paula Neuss, Magnificence - Page 215:
      Comprehending the world casual and transitory, Who list to consider shall never be beguiled, If it be regist'red well in memory; A plain example of worldly vainglory: How in this world there is no sickerness, But fallible flattery enmixed with bitterness.
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