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Rich; producing a large income; desirable; as, a fat benefice; a fat office; a fat job. Now parson of Troston, a fat living in Suffolk. Carlyle.

An estate held of a superior on condition of military service; a fee; a feud. See under Benefice, n., 2.

nant who held directly from him. (c) (Eng. Eccl. Law) The first year's whole profits of a benefice or spiritual living. (d) The earliest effects or results. See, Father, what first fruits on earth are sprung From thy implanted grace in man! Milton. -- First mate, an officer in a merchant vessel next in rank to the capt…

The land belonging, or yielding revenue, to a parish church or ecclesiastical benefice.

ounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love,. or bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent; merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor; condescending; as, his most gracious majesty. A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. Neh. ix. 17. So hallowed and so gracious in the time. Shak.

gorous; new; recent; as, a green manhood; a green wound. As valid against such an old and beneficent government as against . . . the greenest usurpation. Burke.

Appropriate; suitable; proper; fit; adequate. [R.] An ecclesiastical benefice . . . ought to be conferred on an idoneous person. Ayliffe.

The obtaining of benefice from Rome by solicitation, which benefice belonged to the disposal of the king or other lay patron of the realm.

The act of putting an ecclesiastical benefice in the hands of a layman, or lay corporation.

s of baptism or confirmation. (b) The act of a vicar, or other beneficiary, who holds two benefices, the one depending on the collation of the other.

The state of holding a benefice; the full possession and exercise of any office. These fines are only to be paid to the bishop during his incumbency. Swift.

A person who is in present possession of a benefice or of any office. The incumbent lieth at the mercy of his patron. Swift.

To introduce, as to a benefice or office; to put in actual possession of the temporal rights of an ecclesiastical living, or of any other office, with the customary forms and ceremonies. The prior, when inducted into that dignity, took an oath not to alienate any of their lands. Bp. Burnet.

The introduction of a clergyman into a benefice, or of an official into a office, with appropriate acts or ceremonies; the giving actual possession of an ecclesiastical living or its temporalities.

The person who inducts another into an office or benefice.

To invest with the spiritual charge of a benefice, or the care of souls. Blackstone.

Favorable; mild; gentle; auspicious; beneficent. In soft silence shed the kindly shower. Pope. Should e'er a kindlier time ensue. Wordsworth.

of being kind, in any of its various senses; manifestation of kind feeling or disposition beneficence. I do fear thy nature; It is too full o' the milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way. Shak. Unremembered acts Of kindness and of love. Wordsworth.

the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is nothing else but reason. Coke. Law is beneficence acting by rule. Burke. And sovereign Law, that state's collected will O'er thrones and globes elate, Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ill. Sir W. Jones.

The benefice of a clergyman; an ecclesiastical charge which a minister receives. [Eng.] He could not get a deanery, a prebend, or even a living Macaulay. Livng room, the room most used by the family.