Definition of "benediction"

O, look upon me, sir,And hold your hands in benediction o’er me.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene vii]

So saying, he [the angel] arose; whom Adam thusFollow’d with benediction.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 1281-1282

My pen (its last scrawl a benediction on my beloved) dropt from my fingers;

1748, [Samuel Richardson], chapter 50, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], page 290

Cohen kept on his own hat, and took no notice of the visitor, but stood still while the two children went up to him and clasped his knees: then he laid his hands on each in turn and uttered his Hebrew benediction; whereupon the wife, who had lately taken baby from the cradle, brought it up to her husband and held it under his outstretched hands, to be blessed in its sleep.

1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XXXIV, in Daniel Deronda, volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, book IV (Gwendolen Gets Her Choice), page 354

Long brahminical hairs sprouted out of his ears, and he drew further attention to himself by closing his eyes, neatly shaking away tears, putting a hand on Owad’s head and speaking a Hindi benediction.

1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas‎, Penguin, published 1992, Part 2, Chapter 6, p. 537

What Consecration is to a Bishop, that Benediction is to an Abbot; but in a different way: For a Bishop is not properly such till Consecration; but an Abbot being elected and confirm’d, is properly such before Benediction.

1726, John Ayliffe, “Of Abbots, Priors, Abbies, Priories, &c.”, in Parergon juris canonici anglicani: or, A commentary, by way of supplement to the canons and constitutions of the Church of England‎, London: for the author, page 13

[He] later liked to attend benediction in the chapel at Brideshead and see the ladies of the family with their necks arched in devotion under their black lace mantillas; [...]

1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 5, in Brideshead Revisited […], 3rd edition, London: Chapman & Hall, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), page 98

[…] they throng who should buy first, as if my trinkets had been hallowed and brought a benediction to the buyer:

c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act XIV, scene iv]

Homeward serenely she walked with God’s benediction upon her.

1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, part I