[‘ /trans./ To account or call (a person, etc.) happy or blessed.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈmakərʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈmækəraɪz/
Forms: 18– *macarise*, 18– *macarize*, 18– *makarize*.
Etymology: < ancient Greek /μακαρίζειν/ < /μάκαρ/ blessed, fortunate (further etymology unknown) + /-ίζειν/ -ize suffix.
/rare/.
/trans./ To account or call (a person, etc.) happy or blessed.
a/1818 R. Whately /Misc. Remains/ (1865) 9 A man is admired for what he /is, macarized for what he has, praised for what he does.
1818 R. Whately /Misc. Remains/ (1864) 25 If a man possess a genius, or a person that is admirable, he is himself admired; but not if he has an admirable horse or house; the sentiment we feel towards him is of a different nature, and we have no English word to express it; so much are we at a loss as to resort to the word ‘envy’. I should like to introduce the word ‘macarise’.
1840 T. Arnold /Let./ in A. P. Stanley /Life & Corr. T. Arnold/ (1844) II. ix. 227 Therefore I ‘macarize’ you the more, for having both an inherited home, and in a county and part of the county per se delightful.
/a/1871 G. Grote /Fragm. Ethical Subj./ (1876) v. 177 No man praises happiness, as he praises justice, but macarises (blesses) it as something more divine and better.
1960 P. T. Geach in M. Brand /Nature of Human Action/ (1970) 118 In a society where the rich were generally macarized, ‘happy’ would come to connote wealth.