n. [ F. bénéfice, L. beneficium, a kindness , in LL. a grant of an estate, fr. L. beneficus beneficent; bene well + facere to do. See Benefit. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A favor or benefit. [ Obs. ] Baxter. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Feudal Law) An estate in lands; a fief. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Such an estate was granted at first for life only, and held on the mere good pleasure of the donor; but afterward, becoming hereditary, it received the appellation of fief, and the term benefice became appropriated to church livings. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An ecclesiastical living and church preferment, as in the Church of England; a church endowed with a revenue for the maintenance of divine service. See Advowson. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ All church preferments are called benefices, except bishoprics, which are called dignities. But, ordinarily, the term dignity is applied to bishoprics, deaneries, archdeaconries, and prebendaryships; benefice to parsonages, vicarages, and donatives. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Beneficed. ] To endow with a benefice. [ Commonly in the past participle. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Possessed of a benefice or church preferment. “Beneficed clergymen.” Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no benefice. “Beneficeless precisians.” Sheldon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. beneficentia, fr. beneficus: cf. F. bénéficence. See Benefice. ] The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness. [ 1913 Webster ]

And whose beneficence no charge exhausts. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Benevolence. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Doing or producing good; performing acts of kindness and charity; characterized by beneficence. [ 1913 Webster ]

The beneficent fruits of Christianity. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Benevolent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to beneficence. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a beneficent manner; with beneficence. [ 1913 Webster ]