eleëmosynary

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛlɪ.iːˈmɒsɪnəɹɪ/[1]

eleëmosynary (comparative more eleëmosynary, superlative most eleëmosynary)

1. Rare spelling of eleemosynary.
   • 1853, Oxford University Commission, The North American Review, April 1853, page 384

     University Professorships are founded in connection with these eleëmosynary halls.

   • 1856, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Outre-mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea, page 58:

     He was led about by a brisk, middle-aged woman, in straw hat and wooden shoes; and a little barefooted boy, with clear, blue eyes and flaxen hair, held a tattered hat in his hand, in which he collected eleëmosynary sous.

   • 1900, Eustace Alfred Reynolds-Ball, Paris in Its Splendor, page 41:

     The following statistics, for which I am indebted to that encyclopædic storehouse of practical information, Baedeker’s “Paris”, will give the reader some idea of the importance of the eleëmosynary work undertaken by the sub-committee (Assistance Publique) of the council entrusted with the administration of the Paris hospitals: “The twenty hospitals of Paris have an aggregate of upwards of twelve thousand beds. The number of patients annually discharged includes forty-five to fifty thousand men, thirty-six to forty thousand women, and sixteen to eighteen thousand children; the average annual deaths in the hospitals include about seven […]

   • 2005 May 25, “The Tensor”, Tenser, said the Tensor: Diaeresis Defense:

     Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh posts about a linguistic, or at least orthographic, advocacy group:

     Diaeresis Defense, an eleëmosynary reëducation coöperative.

     Favorite artists: The Brontës.

     Least favorite artists (winners of Diaeresis Defense’s “Ersatz Dieresis Award”): Mötley Crüe.

     Slogan: “Two vowels, two sounds, two dots”.

     I believe the proper expression is “heh”. Er, assuming he’s kidding, of course […]

   • 2006 May 5, “John Woodgate”, sci.lang.translation (Google group): Albanian words for eyebrow:

     Like the RC priest who was responsible for Knock airport, she was not above using ‘interesting’ methods to fulfil eleëmosynary ambitions.