killingness

English

Etymology

killing +‎ -ness

Noun

killingness (uncountable)

  1. (dated) The quality of being devastatingly attractive.
    • 1840, Robert Bremner, Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, volume 1, page 314:
      […] 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.
    • 1854, John Doran, Habits and Men, page 135:
      […] 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."
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