comfort

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌm.fət/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊm.fət/
• (General American) enPR: kŭm'fərt, IPA^(key): /ˈkʌm.fɚt/, [ˈkʰʌɱ.fɚt]
• (obsolete) enPR: kŭmfôrt', IPA^(key): /kʌmˈfɔɹt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

From Middle English comfort, from Old French cunfort, confort, from the stem of Late Latin confortō. It replaced Old English frofor, Middle English frovre.

comfort (countable and uncountable, plural comforts)

1. Contentment, ease.

   Sleep in comfort with our new mattress.

   • 1684, chapter III, in Bucaniers of America: Or, A True Account of the Moſt Remarkable Aſſaults Committed of Late Years Upon the Coaſts of the West-Indies, by Bucaniers of Jamica and Tortuga, Both English and French; Wherein are Contained More Eſpecially, the Unparallel'd Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, Our Engliſh Jamaican Hero, who ſack'd Puerto Velo, Burnt Panama. &c [Part II]‎^[1], volume 1, London: Printed for William Crooke, translation of De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, […] by John Eſquemeling, page 30:

     But all was in vain: For having ranged up and down the Woods for ſome days, without finding the leaſt comfort to their hungry deſires, they were forced to return again unto the River. […] At laſt they arrived at the Coaſt of the Sea, where they found ſome comfort and relief to their former miſeries, and alſo means to ſeek more.

   • 1850, T. S. Arthur, “A Rise in the Butter Market”, in Sketches of Life and Character‎^[2], Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 59:

     How often is the comfort of a whole family abridged by some trifling circumstance, that ought not to have made a visible impression!

   • 1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “An Unexpected Party”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 15:

     In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

2. Something that offers comfort.

   the comforts of home

3. A consolation; something relieving suffering or worry.

   We still have the spare tire? That's a comfort at least.

4. A cause of relief or satisfaction.

   The outcome of the peace negotiations in Moscow in 1940 was a heavy blow to the young nation, but in the same time a great comfort: at least the independency was preserved.

• liss

• (antonym(s) of “contentment, ease”): austerity

From Middle English comforten, from Old French conforter, from Late Latin confortō (“to strengthen greatly”), itself from Latin con- (“together”) + fortis (“strong”).

comfort (third-person singular simple present comforts, present participle comforting, simple past and past participle comforted)

1. (transitive) To relieve the distress or suffering of; to provide comfort to.

   Rob comforted Aaron because he was lost and very sad.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 86:17:

     Shew me a token foꝛ good, that they which hate me may ſee it, and bee aſhamed: becauſe thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comfoꝛted me.

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Light, above all things, excelleth in comforting the spirits of men.

2. (obsolete) To make strong; to invigorate; to fortify; to corroborate.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     God's own testimony […] doth not a little comfort and confirm the same.

3. (obsolete) To assist or help; to aid.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     I […] cannot help the noble chevalier: / God comfort him in this necessity!

• besoothe

• comforter
• comforting (adjective, noun)
• uncomfort

From Middle Dutch confoort, from Old French confort.

• (Netherlands) IPA^(key): /kɔmˈfɔːr/
• (Belgium) IPA^(key): /kɔmˈfɔr(t)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧fort

comfort n (plural comforts, diminutive comfortje n)

1. physical comfort, ease

• comfortabel
• ligcomfort
• rijcomfort
• zitcomfort

• cumfort, confort, counfort

Borrowed from Old French cunfort, confort.

• IPA^(key): /kumˈfɔrt/, /kunˈfɔrt/

comfort (plural comforts)

1. encouragement, assurance

• English: comfort
• Yola: comfoort

• “cǒmfort, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.