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Comfort   /kˈəmfərt/   Listen
noun
Comfort  n.  
1.
Assistance; relief; support. (Obs. except in the phrase "aid and comfort." See 5 below.)
2.
Encouragement; solace; consolation in trouble; also, that which affords consolation. "In comfort of her mother's fears." "Cheer thy spirit with this comfort." "Speaking words of endearment where words of comfort availed not."
3.
A state of quiet enjoyment; freedom from pain, want, or anxiety; also, whatever contributes to such a condition. "I had much joy and comfort in thy love." "He had the means of living in comfort."
4.
A wadded bedquilt; a comfortable. (U. S.)
5.
(Law) Unlawful support, countenance, or encouragement; as, to give aid and comfort to the enemy.
Synonyms: Comfort, Consolation. Comfort has two meanings:
1.
Strength and relief received under affliction;
2.
Positive enjoyment, of a quiet, permanent nature, together with the sources thereof; as, the comfort of love; surrounded with comforts; but it is with the former only that the word consolation is brought into comparison. As thus compared, consolation points to some specific source of relief for the afflicted mind; as, the consolations of religion. Comfort supposes the relief to be afforded by imparting positive enjoyment, as well as a diminution of pain. "Consolation, or comfort, signifies some alleviation to that pain to which it is not in our power to afford the proper and adequate remedy; they imply rather an augmentation of the power of bearing, than a diminution of the burden."


verb
Comfort  v. t.  (past & past part. comforted; pres. part. comforting)  
1.
To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate. (Obs.) "God's own testimony... doth not a little comfort and confirm the same."
2.
To assist or help; to aid. (Obs.) "I... can not help the noble chevalier: God comfort him in this necessity!"
3.
To impart strength and hope to; to encourage; to relieve; to console; to cheer. "Light excelleth in comforting the spirits of men." "That we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction." "A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command."
Synonyms: To cheer; solace; console; revive; encourage; enliven; invigorate; inspirit; gladden; recreate; exhilarate; refresh; animate; confirm; strengthen. To Comfort, Console, Solace. These verbs all suppose some antecedent state of suffering or sorrow. Console is confined to the act giving sympathetic relief to the mind under affliction or sorrow, and points to some definite source of that relief; as, the presence of his friend consoled him; he was much consoled by this intelligence. The act of consoling commonly implies the inculcation of resignation. Comfort points to relief afforded by the communication of positive pleasure, hope, and strength, as well as by the diminution of pain; as, "They brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted." Solace is from L. solacium, which means according to Dumesnil, consolation inwardly felt or applied to the case of the sufferer. Hence, the verb to solace denotes the using of things for the purpose of affording relief under sorrow or suffering; as, to solace one's self with reflections, with books, or with active employments.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Comfort" Quotes from Famous Books



... Paul's head, his godfather looked up. "Ah, boy!" he said with a deep sigh, "this is the worst thing that I ever thought could happen to us; yet it's a comfort to think that it isn't our own brave frigate that has been taken, and that a number of our shipmates haven't been struck down by the enemy's fire. But it's the thoughts of the French prison tries me. Yet, Billy, I don't mind even that so much as I should have done ...
— True Blue • W.H.G. Kingston
... there. In accordance therewith I proceeded to get into touch with what remained of the old Russian authorities, civil and military, and the new ones wherever such had been created. So far as the men's comfort was concerned, new roads were constructed and old ones repaired, broken windows and dilapidated walls and woodwork were either replaced or renovated. Electrical appliances were discovered and fixed, and what had previously been a dull, ...
— With the "Die-Hards" in Siberia • John Ward
... else on his family, who dares call her by any other name; for whoever he is, he does her wrong, and is a very impudent person. You are heartily welcome, gentlemen. With this they colled and clipped us about the neck, which was no small comfort to us, I'll ...
— Gargantua and Pantagruel, Complete. • Francois Rabelais
... past, to whom weaknesses or crimes were imputed, and reconciled me to difficulties in ecclesiastical proceedings, which there were no means now of properly explaining. And the sympathy thus excited for them, reacted on myself, and I found comfort in being able to put myself under the shadow of those who had suffered as I was suffering, and who seemed to promise me their recompense, since I had a fellowship in their trial. In a letter to my bishop at the time of Tract ...
— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman
... his hero suffer. He is chained to a desolate and stupendous rock at the extremity of earth's remotest wilds, frowning over old ocean. The daughters of O-ce'a-nus, who constitute the chorus of the tragedy, come to comfort and calm him; and even the aged Oceanus himself, and afterward Mercury, do all they can to persuade him to submit to his oppressor, Jupiter. But all to no purpose; he sternly and triumphantly refuses. Meanwhile, the tempest rages, the lightnings ...
— Mosaics of Grecian History • Marcius Willson and Robert Pierpont Willson


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