killingness

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English

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Etymology

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From killing +‎ -ness.

Noun

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killingness (uncountable)

  1. (dated) The quality of being devastatingly attractive.
    • 1840, Robert Bremner, Excursions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, volume 1, page 314:
      [] especially when these showy garments were set off with a large bunch of flowers in the hand, or on the breast, which most of the young fellows displayed with conscious killingness.
    • 1854, John Doran, Habits and Men, page 135:
      [] and they daily sent each other little billets, remarkable for the aristocratic contempt which they showed for orthography; and little patterns of head-dresses, quite as remarkable for their grace and "killingness."