eleemosynary (elemosinari)

and n. [ Eleemosynary relief never yet tranquillized the working cla es-it never made them grateful; it is not in human nature that it should. Charlotte Bronte , Shirley, xvi. The beds of patients [in the hospital at Beaune) are draped in curtains of dark red cloth, the traditional uniform of these eleemosynary couches. H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 251. 2. Relating to charitable donations; intended for the distribution of alms, or for the use and management of donations and bequests, whether for the subsistence of the poor or for the conferring of any gratuitous benefit. The eleemosynary sort [of corporations] are such as are constituted for the perpetual distribution of the free alms, or bounty, of the founder of them to such persons as he has directed. Black stone , Com., I. xviii. Eleemosynary corporations are for the management of private property according to the will of the donors. D. Webster , Speech, March 10, 1818. 3. Dependent upon charity; receiving charitable aid or support: as, the eleemosynary poor. In the accounts of Maxtoke priory, near Coventry, in the year 1430, it appears that the eleemosynary boys, or choristers, of that monastery acted a play. T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. 390. Eleemosynary corporation. See corporation . II. n.; pl. eleemosynaries (-riz). One who subsists on charity;; one who lives by receiving alms. Living as an eleemosynary upon a perpetual contribution from all and every part of the creation. South , Sermons, III. i.