comfort

• The verb is from Middle English comforten, from Old French conforter, from Late Latin confortō (“to strengthen greatly”), itself from Latin con- (“together”) + fortis (“strong”).
• The noun is from Middle English comfort, from Old French cunfort, confort, from the stem of Late Latin confortō. It replaced Old English frofor, Middle English frovre.

• (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)

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]‎, 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, 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, chapter I, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, 3rd edition, London: Unwin Books, George Allen & Unwin, published 1966 (1970 printing), →ISBN, page 1:

     In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, […] nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole […] : 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

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.

   • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, 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)

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/, /kun-/

comfort (plural comforts)

1. encouragement, assurance

• English: comfort
• Yola: comfoort

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