conversely

If two parallelograms, which have one angle of the one equal to one angle of the other, be equal to one another, the sides about the equal angles are reciprocally proportional, and conversely.

1784, John West, “[Elements of Geometry.] Proposition VIII.”, in Elements of Mathematics. […], Edinburgh: Printed for William Creech; and sold in London by T[homas] Longman and T[homas] Cadell., →OCLC, book V (Definitions), page 127:

Proposition I. If four quantities are proportional, the product of the extremes is equal to the product of the means, and conversely.

1860, Benjamin Greenleaf, “Section XIX. Ratios.”, in A Practical Treatise on Algebra, […], 35th improved stereotype edition, Boston, Mass.: Published by Robert S. Davis & Co.; […], →OCLC, page 207:

Glasses (perspicua) can be so constructed that objects at a very great distance appear to be quite close at hand, and conversely. Thus we read the smallest letters from an incredible distance, number objects, however small, and make the stars appear as near as we wish. … Also objects can be made to appear so that the greatest seems the least, and conversely; what are high appear low and short, and conversely; and what is hidden appears manifest. … [translation of Roger Bacon's De Secretis Operibus Artis et Naturae.]

1921, Charles Singer, “Steps Leading to the Invention of the First Optical Apparatus”, in Charles Singer, editor, Studies in the History and Method of Science, volume II, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 398:

In these cases the market has sufficient skepticism as to the continuation of the unusually high profits to value them conservatively, and conversely when earnings are low or nonexistent.

1949, Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 165:

As for the ability for a nation to finance in the international market, if the nation has a relatively good reputation in the international financial market, then the nation can quickly and conveniently obtain loans from foreign governments and international financial institutions with stable sources of funds. In this case, the nation does not need to maintain a large scale of international reserve. Conversely, if a nation's credit rating is low, the nation will have difficulty to raise funds. In this case, the nation will need more sufficient international reserve.

2014, Jeffrey Yi-Lin Forrest, “International Reserves and Capital Flows”, in A Systems Perspective on Financial Systems (Communications in Cybernetics, Systems Science and Engineering; 6), Boca Raton, Fla., London: CRC Press/Balkema, →ISBN, →ISSN, section 9.2.1 (The Management of Magnitudes), page 354:

[R]esearch has found that social integration is more important for well-being than income, and also decreases poverty. Loneliness, conversely, can be deadly: one study found it did more damage to health than smoking.

2015 June 4, “With a little help from my friends: Poverty is about who you know as much as what you earn”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 2018-11-06:

(often conjunctive) With a reversed relationship.

At 123 yards, Royal Troon's par-3 eighth in the shortest hole in the Open Championship rota. Known as the "Postage Stamp," the eighth's distance has produced plenty of aces – most recently, Ernie Els in 2004, but Gene Sarazen's hole-in-one remains the benchmark, as the Squire accomplished said feat at 71 years old. Conversely, the hole is not a walk in the park.

2016 July 12, Joel Beall, “Watch Rory McIlroy Make a 9 at Royal Troon’s Postage Stamp”, in Golf Digest, archived from the original on 2016-11-15:

So the issue of unification only comes up when the geometry can no longer be treated as a mere background, or conversely, when the classical theory is no longer accurate. But these circumstances exist (as far as we know) in only two places: the earliest moments of the Big Bang, and the immediate vicinity of singularities hidden behind black hole event horizons.

2017 April 13, Viktor T. Toth, “Why Do General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics Need to be Unified?”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 2018-11-06:

We live in a time when roughly half of the jobs in 2020 are not yet known to us, and conversely, half of the jobs today will be extinct.

2017 April 17, Derrick Chang, “What skills does Singapore need for the future economy?”, in Today, archived from the original on 2017-04-17:

[R]abbits, as it turns out, are rather like children. You can read all the books you want, but you have no idea how much trouble they are – or, conversely, how cute they can be – before you actually plunge in at the deep end.

2017 July 8, James Baldock, “17 things no one tells you before you get a rabbit”, in Metro, archived from the original on 2018-09-26:

(conjunctive, loosely) From another point of view; on the other hand.


therefrom

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-therefrom.wav

From Middle English therfrom, þærfrom, þarvram (also as ther-fro, þer-fro, þarfra), equivalent to there + from. Cognate with Danish derfra, Swedish därifrån, Norwegian Bokmål derfra, Norwegian Nynorsk derifrå, derfrå, Icelandic þarfrá. Compare Saterland Frisian deerfon, West Frisian dêrfan, Dutch daarvan, German Low German daarvan, German davon.

No man ever deliberately does injury to another without himself suffering therefrom, at some future day, as much as the party he has injured; although it may be after a different fashion.

1850, T. S. Arthur, “Seed Time and Harvest”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 130:

Therefrom Boshy's saving propensities, being but the idiosyncrasies of the rich, were mercifully endured and spoken of by Mr. Civil.

1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 195:

Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.

1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), page 373, column 2:

Death is merciful, for there is no return therefrom


ibid.

Abbreviation of Latin ibidem (“in the same place”).

(bibliography, abbreviation) ibidem, in the same place. Indicates a reference to the same source as the previous one.


therein

From Middle English theryn, ther-inne, þer-in, from Old English þǣrin, þǣrinne, from Proto-West Germanic *þārin, *þārinna, from Proto-Germanic *þarin, *þarinna, equivalent to there + in. Cognate with Saterland Frisian deerin (“therein”), West Frisian dêryn (“therein”), Dutch daarin (“therein”), German Low German daarin (“therein”), German darin, drin (“therein”), Danish deri (“therein”), Swedish däri (“therein”), Icelandic þar í (“therein”).

September 1792, George Washington, letter
My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

"Ha," said Robin, "comest thou from Locksley Town? Well do I know that fair place for miles about, and well do I know each hedgerow and gentle pebbly stream, and even all the bright little fishes therein, for there I was born and bred. Now, where goest thou with thy meat, my fair friend?"

1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

'Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe therein.'

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

(pronominal) in that; in that place; in him/her/it.


thereto

From Middle English therto, from Old English þǣrtō (“thereto”), equivalent to there + to. Cognate with Scots tharto, thereto (“thereto”), Saterland Frisian deertou (“thereto”), West Frisian dêrta (“thereto”), Dutch daartoe (“thereto; for that”), German Low German daarto (“to that; for that; thereto”), German dazu (“to that; for that; thereto”).

cog

'There,' she went on, 'it [a scarab] must be one like it, and yet never did I see one like it, for thereto hung a history, and he who wore it prized it much.[']

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “Ayesha Unveils”, in She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 157:

He strung the angelot; / Made rhymes thereto; […]

1840 March, Robert Browning, “Book the Fourth”, in Sordello, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 154:

A man who allows wild passion to arise within, himself burns his heart, then after burning adds the wind that thereto which ignites the fire again, or not, as the case may be.

c. 1955-1956 (written, published c. 1997), Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma:


aborning

From a- (“in the act of”) + born + -ing.

What a shock this morning
A terror without warning
Turned out a blank
What heavens thank
 The "frie" died a borning.

1985 April 20, “Mousie Mousie Wildflower (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, page 13:

No fewer than five planned “uprisings” died a-borning.

1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2004, page 765:

(chiefly Canada, US) That is in the process of being born; coming into existence; before coming to completion.


tho

From Middle English tho, tha, from Old English þā (“then, when”), from Proto-Germanic *þa- (“that”), from Proto-Indo-European *to-, *só (“that”). See also German da (“then, thereupon”).

1481, William Caxton, The History Reynard the Foxː
Tho went I near and found Master Reynard, that had left that he first read and sang, and began to play his old play.

Tho to a hill his faynting flocke he ledde.

1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Ianuarye. Ægloga Prima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:

Tho, her avizing of the vertues rare / Which thereof spoken were, she gan againe / Her to bethink of that mote to her selfe pertaine.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

1642, Henry More, Song Soulː
Tho I gan closely on his person look.


tho

Simplified reform spelling. Popular in American English in the earlier 20th century. Like thru, it failed to establish itself fully, but remains in informal contexts or were brevity is needed. Compare tho'.

I wonder now when I will find time to read it but it is a treasure anyway tho heavy in my knapsack, […]

2009, John Hough, Seen the Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Gettysburg, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 121:

(chiefly US, Philippines, dated or informal, also Internet slang) Alternative spelling of though


literally

en-adv

literally (comparative more literally, superlative most literally)

more literally (comparative)
most literally (superlative)

/ˈlɪt͡ʃɹəli/

From Middle English litteraly; equivalent to literal + -ly.

Coordinate term: etymonically

When I saw on the news that there would be no school tomorrow because of the snowstorm, I literally jumped for joy, and hit my head on the ceiling fan.

Lights were going out. A raid! A raid! It was a panic, literally, in a whorehouse!

1969, Allen V. Ross, Vice in Bombay, London: Tallis Press, page 142:

All events became omens; I lost the ability to take anything literally.

1991, Douglas Coupland, “Dead at 30 Buried at 70”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC:

[…] Men In Black 3 finagles its way out of this predicament by literally resetting the clock with a time-travel premise that makes Will Smith both a contemporary intergalactic cop in the late 1960s and a stranger to Josh Brolin, who plays the younger version of Smith’s stone-faced future partner, Tommy Lee Jones.

2012 May 24, Nathan Rabin, “Film: Reviews: Men In Black 3”, in The Onion AV Club:

As lawmakers and staff rushed out, aides snatched the boxes containing the Electoral College certificates, making sure that the vandals could not literally steal the results of the election.

2021 January 7, Luke Broadwater, Emily Cochrane, “Inside the Capitol, the Sound of the Mob Came First”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Word for word; not figuratively; not as an idiom or metaphor; without overstatement, understatement, euphemism, or dysphemism.

He was so surprised, he literally jumped twenty feet in the air.

My daughter's pet rabbit had babies, and now we've literally got rabbits coming out of our ears.

On 9/11 people were literally glued to their TV sets.

The house was literally electrified; and it was only from witnessing the effects of her genius that he could guess to what a pitch theatrical excellence could be carried.

1827, Sir Walter Scott, “Appendix to Introduction”, in Chronicles of the Canongate, archived from the original on 2021-06-15:

You literally become the ball in a tennis match, you become the report that you are working on […]

1993, Wayne W. Dyer, Real Magic, page 193:

[O]ne can assume that the millions or billions of ringgit spent on the war against drugs have gone down the drain, literally.

2017 April 22, New Straits Times, Malaysia, page 20:

(degree, figuratively, proscribed, contranym) Used non-literally as an intensifier for figurative statements: virtually, basically, so to speak (often considered incorrect; see usage notes)

I had no idea, so I was literally guessing.

I was literally having breakfast when she arrived.

She was literally like, "What?", and I was literally like, "Yeah".

Literally who is this?

Pearl: Steven, we are not like the No Home Boys. We are literally standing in your home right now.

(colloquial) Used to intensify or dramatize non-figurative statements: aptly, indubitably

It's not even hard to make—you literally just put it in the microwave for five minutes and it's done.

It won't take me long to get back, cause the store's literally two blocks away.

(colloquial) Used as a generic downtoner: just, merely.


heretofore

/ˌhɪətəˈfɔː/

/ˌhɪətʊˈfɔː/

/ˌhɪətəˈfɔə/

/ˌhɪətʊˈfɔə/

From Middle English heretoforn, equivalent to here (“here”) + toforn (“before”), from Old English tōforan (“before”). More at here, tofore.

We now make available these works which were heretofore unpublished.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:heretofore.

The Permanent Way: Britain's Railroads in the Making. By Horace Greenleaf and G. Tyers. […]There is no doubt that the permanent way has failed heretofore to attract popular interest to an extent comparable with its importance, but possibly the publicity given recently to various forms of experiment is tending to change this.

1948 September and October, “Railway Literature”, in Railway Magazine, page 351:

(formal, temporal) Before now, until now, up to the present time; from the beginning to this point.

Coordinate term: hereinelsewhere

heretofore referred to as

heretofore mentioned

(metatextual) Previously within the present text; earlier herein.


ante meridiem

From Latin ante (“before”) + merīdiem, accusative singular of merīdiēs (“noon, midday”).


fatherly

fatherly (comparative more fatherly, superlative most fatherly)

more fatherly (comparative)
most fatherly (superlative)

From Middle English faderly, fadirly, from Old English fæderlīċe (“in a fatherly way, as a father”), equivalent to father + -ly.

inh

Exhorting him fatherlie to giue ouer that course.

[…]; tho’ God hath for a while Fatherly Chaſtiſed them by thoſe Rods which he hath afterwards conſumed.

a. 1723, Increase Mather, “A Vindication of New-England”, in The Andros Tracts: […], New York, N.Y.: Burt Franklin, published 1869, page 27 (page 9 of chapter):

This child is not mine as the first was, / I cannot sing it to rest, / I cannot lift it up fatherly / And bliss it upon my breast;

1848, James Russell Lowell, “The Changeling”, in Poems, second series, Cambridge: George Nichols; Boston: B. B. Mussey and Company, page 162:

Indeed we live beneath the sky, . . / That great smooth Hand of God, stretched out / On all His children fatherly, / To bless them from the fear and doubt, / Which would be, if, from this low place, / All opened straight up to His face / Into the grand eternity.

1850, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”, in Poems, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, stanza VII, page 131:

He looked fatherly at me.

1970, Ronny Pearlman, The Monday Man, page 39:

When she fell forward a little, as if she were half fainting with the pleasure, he held her, fatherly, in his arms until she recovered.

1988, Phyllis Ann Karr, “Two Bits of Embroidery”, in Parke Godwin, editor, Invitation to Camelot: An Arthurian Anthology of Short Stories, New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 41:

In a way pertaining to, befitting, or of a father.


attributively

en-adv

attributively (comparative more attributively, superlative most attributively)

more attributively (comparative)
most attributively (superlative)


ghastly

From a conflation of a derivation of Old English gǣstan (“to torment, frighten”) with the suffix -lic, and ghostly (which was also spelt "gastlich" in Middle English). Equivalent to ghast/gast + -ly. Spelling with 'gh' developed 16th century due to the conflation.

der

Johnathan's lips moved ghastly before his voice would come. "So I'm crazy, am I? And if I choose to murder you, what would you do?"

1921, William Dudley Pelley, The Fog: A Novel, page 196:


timely

en-adv

timely (comparative more timely, superlative most timely)

more timely (comparative)
most timely (superlative)

From Middle English timely, tymely, timliche, from Old English *tīmlīc (adj) and tīmlīċe (“in good time; timely; soon”, adverb), equivalent to time + -ly. Cognate with Danish timelig, Swedish timlig, Icelandic tímalegur, tímanlegur.

‘If I had been born more timely, he said, Rhaegar would have married me instead of Elia, and it would all have come out different.’

2000, George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam, published 2011, page 587:

And this we shall more readily perform, if we timely survey our knowledge, impartially singling out those encroachments, which junior compliance and popular credulity hath admitted.

1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

(obsolete) At the right time; seasonably.

On May 14, 1997, the jury convicted the defendant, who currently is serving a fifteen-month sentence. The defendant timely appeals.

1998, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, US v. Merino-Balderrama:

[…] § 2255's one-year limitation period starts to run when the time for seeking such review expires. Under this rule, Clay's § 2255 petition was timely filed.

2003, United States Supreme Court, Clay v. United States:

(law) In compliance with applicable time limits.


prodigious

prodigious (comparative more prodigious, superlative most prodigious)

more prodigious (comparative)
most prodigious (superlative)

/pɹəˈdɪd͡ʒəs/

/pɹəˈdɪd͡ʒəs/

Etymology tree
Latin prō
Latin prō-
Latin aiō
Latin -ium
Latin prōdigium
Latin -ōsus
Latin prōdigiōsusbor.
Middle English prodigious
English prodigious
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English prodigious (“warning of disaster, portentous”), from Latin prōdigiōsus (“strange, unnatural; marvellous, wonderful, prodigious”), from prōdigium (“prophetic sign, omen, portent; prodigy, wonder”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of’ forming adjectives from nouns). Prōdigium is derived from prō- (prefix denoting a forward direction, something before or prior, or prominence) + aiō (“to say, speak”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- (“to say”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analysable as prodigy + -ous.
The adverb is derived from the adjective.
cognates
* Catalan prodigiós
* Middle French prodigieux (“portentous”) (modern French prodigieux)
* Italian prodigioso
* Portuguese prodigioso
* Spanish prodigioso

der

I have fewer books than leisure to read them, and I have a prodigious big appetite.

1863 November – 1864 February, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, “Cousin Phillis. Part I.”, in Cousin Phillis. And Other Tales. […], illustrated edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1865, →OCLC, page 31:

(archaic) Synonym of prodigiously (“in a prodigious manner”).


motherly

en-adv

motherly (comparative more motherly, superlative most motherly)

more motherly (comparative)
most motherly (superlative)

From Middle English moderly, from Old English mōdorlīċ (“motherly, maternal”), from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlīkaz (“motherly, maternal”), equivalent to mother + -ly.

inh

The mother sometime beateth the child, but yet her hart melteth vpon it euen in the very beating, and therefore she casteth the rodde into the fier, and colleth the childe, geueth it an apple and dandleth it moste motherly.

1554, Iohn Bradford, Certain Most Godly, Fruitful, and Comfortable Letters of Such True Saintes and Holy Martyrs of God, […], published 1564, page 288:

I Am glad that you approve and applaud my design, of withdrawing my self from all tumult and business of the World; and consecrating the little rest of my time to those studies, to which Nature had so Motherly inclined me, and from which Fortune like a Step-mother has so long detained me.

1663, Abraham Cowley, The Danger of Procrastination, published 1669:

To the father it would have been the worst of his loss to see his son wiping the sweat and dust from the forehead his mother had been so motherly proud of, and hear the heavy sigh with which he would sink in the not too easy chair that was all his haven after the tossing of the day’s weary ground[-]swell.

1887, George Mac Donald, Home Again, London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., pages 52–53:

Mrs. Rutherford looked motherly at the eager girl and caressed her curls[…]

1925, Kamala Krishna, Torchbearers: A Story of the Realms of the Mastersouls, page 239:

In a way pertaining to, befitting, or of a mother.


aftermost

And he put the handmaids and their children, first: and Leah and her children, after; and Rachel and Ioseph, aftermost.

1627, Henry Ainsworth, Annotations upon the Five Bookes of Moses, the Booke of the Psalmes, and the Song of Songs, London: John Bellamy, Genesis 33, page 122:


thereafter

/ˌðɛəɹˈɑːf.tə(ɹ)/

Northern England, other non-rhotic without the trap–bath split

/ˌðɛəɹˈæf.tə(ɹ)/

/ˌðɛɹˈæf.tɚ/

From Middle English therafter, theraftir, þerefter, þerafter, þeræfter, from Old English þǣræfter (“after that; thereafter”), equivalent to there + after. Cognate with Saterland Frisian deerätter (“thereafter”), West Frisian dêrefter (“behind that; thereafter”), Dutch daarachter (“behind that; thereafter”), German Low German daarachter (“behind that”), Danish derefter (“thereafter”), Swedish därefter (“thereafter”).

cog

He left; thereafter we never met again.

The Lent term had pulled me down, a week of modest enjoyment thereafter in town had finished the work; and I drank in the sharp moorish air like a thirsty man who has been forwandered among deserts.

"My third command to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda, "shall be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore."

1900, L. Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz:


vice versa

/ˈvaɪsɪ ˈvɜːsə/

vīʹsē vûrʹsə

From Latin ablative absolute vice versā (“the position having been reversed”), from feminine third declension noun vicis (“arrangement, order, position, etc.”) + feminine ablative singular of perfect passive participle versus, from vertō (“I turn, I reverse”).

Since there are two contestants left in the race, either Bob will come first place and Alice second place, or vice versa.

(generally after or) The same but with the two items mentioned reversed.


pray

Ellipsis of I pray you, I pray thee, whence also prithee.

pray silence for…

"Pray, Mr. Knightley," said Emma, who had been smiling to herself through a great part of this speech, "how do you know that Mr. Martin did not speak yesterday?"

1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 8, in Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

Pray don’t ask me why, pray don’t be sorry, pray don’t be vexed with me!

1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Tenth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:

Well, Major, pray tell us your adventures, for you have frightened us dreadfully.

1845, Frederick Marryat, “Chapter XXI”, in The Mission:

Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement.

1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb:

(archaic or formal) Please; used to make a polite request

He is a South American, so perhaps revolutionary spirit courses through Francis's veins. But what, pray, does the Catholic church want with doubt?

20 September 2013, Martina Hyde, “Is the pope Catholic?”, in The Guardian:

Alternative form of pray tell (“I ask you (insincerely)”)


item

From Middle English item, from Latin item (“also; in the same manner”). The present English meaning derives from a usage in lists, where the first entry would begin in primis (“firstly”) or imprimis, and the other entries with item (“also, moreover”). Later, the members of lists were referred to as "items".


heavenly

en-adv

heavenly (comparative more heavenly, superlative most heavenly)

more heavenly (comparative)
most heavenly (superlative)

From Middle English hevenely, hevenly, from Old English heofonlīċ (“heavenly, celestial; chaste”); equivalent to heaven + -ly.

inh

by night [she] saw that God in her armes, saying moreover unto her, that the next day, the first man she met withall, should heavenly pay her her wages.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

In a manner like that of heaven; by the influence or agency of heaven; divinely, miraculously.

Then, we taste the refried beans and the rice, and they are so heavenly delicious.

2003, Ruben Soto, Fiesta for the Hispanic Soul, page 136:

To a degree such as to elicit great pleasure.


a priori

en-adv

a priori (comparative more a priori, superlative most a priori)

more a priori (comparative)
most a priori (superlative)

/ˌeɪ pɹaɪˈɔːɹaɪ/

/ˌɑː pɹiˈɔːɹi/

/ˌeɪ pɹaɪˈɔːɹi/

First attested in 1610. Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ā priōrī (“involving reasoning from cause to effect; from first principles”, literally “from the former”).

lbor

deductively[Appendix:Glossary#broadly|broadly]] synonymous outside of philosophic arcanity>

(logic) In a way based on theoretical deduction rather than empirical observation.


brotherly

From Middle English brotherly, from Old English brōþorlīċ, from Proto-Germanic *brōþurlīkaz, equivalent to brother + -ly. Cognate with Dutch broederlijk (“brotherly”), German brüderlich (“brotherly”), Swedish broderlig (“brotherly”).

"What honest man, who is not insane, would take lost women and thieves into his house to dwell with him sisterly and brotherly?"

1908 February 19, Jack London, The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:

In the manner of a brother, as a brother, as brothers.


orderly

en-adv

orderly (comparative more orderly, superlative most orderly)

more orderly (comparative)
most orderly (superlative)

You are blunt; go to it orderly.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

Phase R: the rods are linked three by three and form planar twodimensional hexagonal networks. In both cases, the networks are orderly stacked in a three-dimensional lattice.

1991, Chor-San Heng Khoo, Physics of Liquid Crystalline Materials, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 33:

The rectangles are orderly stacked with the topmost rectangle representing the most visible entity and subsequent rectangles representing entities underneath the mouse cursor, front to back.

2014, Huei-Huang Lee, Finite Element Simulations with ANSYS Workbench 15: Theory, Applications, Case Studies, SDC Publications, →ISBN, page 191:

(now rare) According to good order or practice; appropriately, in a well-behaved or orderly (adjective) way.

The earth from heaven, the sea from earth, he parted orderly, / And from the thicke and foggie ayre, he tooke the lightsome skie.

1567, Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding, Metamorphoses, section I:

Thus orderly marshaled, they take their course and swim whither their journey tends, as broad and wide behind as before[…].

And in the Tombe which is an arch made of mats, they lay them orderly.

1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 149:

(obsolete) In order; in a particular order or succession; with a suitable arrangement.


contrariwise

From Middle English contrary-wyse; equivalent to contrary + -wise.

Rain patters on a sea that tilts and sighs. / Fast-running floors, collapsing into hollows, / Tower suddenly, spray-haired. Contrariwise, / A wave drops like a wall: another follows, / Wilting and scrambling

1955, Philip Larkin, “Absences”, in The Less Deceived:

(literary) in the contrary or opposite way, order, or direction


lovely

lovely (comparative more lovely, superlative most lovely)

more lovely (comparative)
most lovely (superlative)

From Middle English lovely, luveliche, from Old English luflīċe (“lovingly, amiably, kindly, dearly, with good will or love, willingly”), equivalent to love + -ly.

inh

She's not everyone's cup of tea, what with the way she speaks her mind and doesn't always do her hair in the morning, but she scrubs up lovely.

2014, Neil Bartlett, chapter 18, in The Disappearance Boy, A&C Black:

(informal) In a lovely fashion or manner; beautifully.


fluently

en-adv

fluently (comparative more fluently, superlative most fluently)

more fluently (comparative)
most fluently (superlative)

He lived in Mexico, so he is able to speak Spanish fluently.

In a fluent manner, as expressing oneself easily, especially in a foreign language.

In a fluent manner, as having graceful movements.

When he had gone half way he turned around and stared at the scene—his wife and Catherine scolding and consoling as they stumbled here and there among the crowded furniture with articles of aid, and the despairing figure on the couch, bleeding fluently, and trying to spread a copy of Town Tattle over the tapestry scenes of Versailles.

1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 2, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 38:

In a fluent manner, as literally flowing.


cowardly

cowardly (comparative more cowardly, superlative most cowardly)

more cowardly (comparative)
most cowardly (superlative)

From Middle English *cowardly (adjective) and cowardly (adverb), equivalent to coward + -ly. Displaced native Old English earg.

We will not ſteale vpon him cowardly,
But giue him warning and more warriours.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene v:

I love to follow them, but not so cowardly, as my life remaine thereby in subjection.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 48:

[…] men who cowardly and hypocritically subscribe orthodox creeds, whilst they teach a different kind of doctrine!

1828, John Paul, A Refutation of Arianism, page 20:

(archaic) In the manner of a coward, cowardlily.


fore

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

In the part that precedes or goes first; opposed to aft, after, back, behind, etc.

The eyes, fore duteous, now converted are.

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 7”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

(nautical) In or towards the bows of a ship.


regularly

regularly (comparative more regularly, superlative most regularly)

more regularly (comparative)
most regularly (superlative)

/ˈɹɛɡjʊləli/

/ˈɹɛɡjəlɚli/

We regularly buy lottery tickets from the corner store.

Noemi decided to dress regularly for the party, instead of going for an outrageous outfit.

The period of life at which initiation takes place is regularly puberty.

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 358:


forsooth

From Middle English forsothe, forsoþe, for sothe, from Old English for sōþ (“truly, for certain, forsooth”), equivalent to for (“for, by”) + sooth (“truth”).

inh

A fit man, forsooth, to governe a realme!

a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC:

[F]or certes, ſayes he, / I haue already choſen my officer, and what was he? / Forſooth, a great Arithmeticion, [...]

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 1:

‘Saint forsooth!’ said ill-natured Mrs. Brady.

1844 January–December, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “My Pedigree and Family.—Undergo the Influence of the Tender Passion.”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, →OCLC:

The four boys pumped up their hate to hissing steam. Harmless, quotha. Innocent, forsooth.

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 596:

Her eyes widened. She squeaked a bit. "Don't tell me she caught you bending again?" "Bending is right. I was half-way under the dressing-table. You and your singing," I said, and I'm not sure I didn't add the word "Forsooth!" Her eyes widened a bit further, and she squeaked another squeak.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

(archaic or poetic) Used as an intensifier, often ironic: indeed, really, truthfully.


a posteriori

en-adv

a posteriori (comparative more a posteriori, superlative most a posteriori)

more a posteriori (comparative)
most a posteriori (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ā posteriōrī (“involving reasoning from effect to cause, from experience to theory”, literally “from what follows”). Popularized from the 19th century in reference to the work of Immanuel Kant.

learned borrowing

FALLACIES of the modern worldview have to do with the conception of the world as substance or machinery, mistaking abstractions for reality, confusing origins and truth, failing to attribute feeling to things that feel, recognising ethics as exclusively anthropocentric, thinking a posteriori, objectifying facts as separated from values, reducing the complex to the simple and dividing knowledge into distinct disciplines that produce experts who are often wrong.

inductively[Appendix:Glossary#broadly|broadly]] synonymous outside of philosophic arcanity>

(logic) In a manner that deduces theories from facts.

البعديَة

in a manner that deduces theories from facts


over the wicket

(cricket) bowling the ball from the side of the wicket that puts the bowler's bowling hand closer to the wicket


philanthropically

en-adv

philanthropically (comparative more philanthropically, superlative most philanthropically)

more philanthropically (comparative)
most philanthropically (superlative)


altruistically

altruistically (comparative more altruistically, superlative most altruistically)

more altruistically (comparative)
most altruistically (superlative)

In an altruistic manner; in a manner having regard of others


selfishly

selfishly (comparative more selfishly, superlative most selfishly)

more selfishly (comparative)
most selfishly (superlative)

What emerges is a softly supernatural story about a futurist who behaved as selfishly as any retrograde male genius.

2023 April 13, Amy Nicholson, “‘Hilma’ Review: An Artist With Spirit”, in The New York Times:

In a selfish manner; with regard to private interest only or chiefly.


surly

surly (comparative surlier, superlative surliest)

surlier (comparative)
surliest (superlative)

16th-century alteration of sirly, from sir + -ly.

Against the Capitol I met a lion / Who glazed upon me, and went surly by / Without annoying me […]

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

(obsolete) In an arrogant or supercilious manner.


surreptitiously

surreptitiously (comparative more surreptitiously, superlative most surreptitiously)

more surreptitiously (comparative)
most surreptitiously (superlative)

They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC, page 9:

In a surreptitious manner; stealthily, furtively, secretly.


all out

all out (comparative more all out, superlative most all out)

more all out (comparative)
most all out (superlative)

Oh, bedad! He was all out the worst sight ever came across ould Ireland

1840, The Sea: Narratives of Adventure and Shipwreck, Tales and Sketches:

Intemperate Venus is all out as bad in the other extreame^([sic]).

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:


boustrophedon

Borrowed from Ancient Greek βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón, literally “turning like an ox”), from βοῦς (boûs, “ox”) + στροφή (strophḗ, “turning”) + -ηδόν (-ēdón, adverbial suffix).

bor+

βουστροφηδόν

af

(historical, calligraphy, of writing) In a fashion such that the reading direction changes from right-to-left to left-to-right with each new line.


leg before wicket

(cricket) Describing the way of getting out in which the ball would have hit the batsman's wicket, but hits the batsman's legs or more rarely another part of the batsman's body without first hitting the bat or a hand holding the bat.


hardly

en-adv

hardly (comparative hardlier or more hardly, superlative hardliest or most hardly)

hardlier (comparative)
more hardly (comparative)
hardliest (superlative)
most hardly (superlative)

From Middle English hardely, hardliche, from Old English heardlīċe (“boldly; hardily; without ease; in a way that causes pain; not easily; only by degrees”), equivalent to hard + -ly. Compare Dutch hardelijk, German härtlich.

inh

They hardly ever watch television.

It's hardly possible he could lose the election.

How lonely they looked as they lay there, and how ill assorted! That little heap had been for two thousand years the wisest, loveliest, proudest creature - I can hardly call her woman - in the whole universe.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

แทบจะไม่

tɛ̂ɛp jà mâi

I hardly think they'll come in this bad weather!

With this the second of three games in seven days for Stoke, it was hardly surprising to see nine changes from the side that started against Newcastle in the Premier League on Monday.

2011 November 3, David Ornstein, “Macc Tel-Aviv 1-2 Stoke”, in BBC Sport:

Investors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.

2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68:

And what gentle flame soever doth warme the heart of young virgins, yet are they hardly drawne to leave and forgoe their mothers, to betake them to their husbands […].

While in Chelsea, Anne Smiley pined, taking very hardly to her unaccustomed role of wife abandoned.

1977, John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy, Folio Society, published 2010, page 40:

I was a fool when I married him; and I am so far an incurable fool on that subject, that, for the sake of what I once believed him to be, I wouldn’t have even this shadow of my idle fancy hardly dealt with.

1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

"Mr. Cholmondeley, the young men out here are much too hardly worked to allow them time for paying impertinent compliments."

1866 February 5, [O.G. Trevelyan], “The Dawk Bungalow”, in Frazer's Magazine, London, page 219:

(manner, archaic) Harshly, severely; in a hard manner.

Let him hardly be possest with an honest curiositie to search out the nature and causes of all things […].

Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness.

1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 101–102:

(manner, obsolete) Firmly, vigorously, with strength or exertion.


in memoriam

An Enchanted Castle, and Other Poems, 1893, p. 72, prefaces the poem with this line, which suggests that the poem was written “in memoriam”: “[C. L. P., OB. JULY 18, 1884.]”.

2004, John P. Frayne and Madeleine Marchaterre, “Notes” to The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume IX: Early Articles and Reviews, Scribner, page 553

The book can be divided into three main parts: chapters 1, 14 were written in memoriam; in the second part (chapters 2–7) Miller carries out a philosophical investigation of critical rationalism; the third part (chapters 8–13) […]

2009, Zuzana Parusniková, review of David Miller’s Out of Error, in Zuzana Parusniková and Robert S. Cohen (editors), Rethinking Popper, Springer, page 417


batshit

Presumably from batty (“crazy”), itself from earlier have bats in one's belfry, from tendency of bats to fly around erratically. Possibly influenced by or derived from apeshit, particularly in phrase go apeshit.

When we heard about it he went batshit nuts.

(slang) Used as an intensifier, particularly for insane or synonyms.


specifically

en-adv

specifically (comparative more specifically, superlative most specifically)

more specifically (comparative)
most specifically (superlative)

A provision of law may not be construed as requiring a new grant to be awarded to a specified non-Federal Government entity unless that provision of law (1) specifically refers to this subsection; specifically identifies the particular non-Federal Government entity involved; and (3) specifically states that the award to that entity is required by such provision of law in contravention of the policy set forth in subsection (a).

1994, Congress of the United States, United States Statutes at Large, volume 108, part 4:

Unless specifically waived by the IRB, all subjects, or their legally authorized representatives, must document that they are consenting to participate in any research project that is approved by the University of North Dakota Institutional Review Board.

2009, Institutional Review Board, Standard Operating Procedures: Informed Consent Documentation, University of North Dakota:

Unless a rule or statute specifically states otherwise, a pleading need not be verified or accompanied by an affidavit.

2010, Congress of the United States, “Rule 11”, in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:

Many laws are directed specifically at child abuse.

2011, Paul Bergman, Sara Berman, The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System:

In a specific manner, applying to or naming a particular thing or things, expressly, explicitly.


shipshape

shipshape (comparative more shipshape, superlative most shipshape)

more shipshape (comparative)
most shipshape (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-shipshape.wav

From ship + shapen (“shaped; wrought with a definite shape”), later shortened to shape. The word is of nautical origin, based on the obligation of a sailor to keep his or her quarters arranged neatly and securely due to the limited space typically allotted to service members aboard ship, and against turbulence at sea.

compound

No—sir—if I sink, I sink; but d——e, I'll go down ship-shape and with dignity.

1840, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XV, in The Pathfinder: Or, The Inland Sea. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 233:

I have said a good deal about Bertha, because I like her frank, easy way, her desire to please, and her pleasant natural manner of doing it. I do n't think novel-writers and picture-makers say enough about such girls. [...] Those are the girls, Ma'am, whom I want to see described by people who know how to do this sort of thing up shipshape.

1860 September, “The Observations of Mace Sloper, Esq.: Second Series. The Cottage on the North River.”, in Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor, The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, volume LVI, number 3, New York, N.Y.: John A. Gray, […], →OCLC, pages 293–294:

Some of you have n't sense enough to put a blanket ship-shape over a sick man. There! Leave it alone! I can die anyhow!

1897, Joseph Conrad, chapter II, in The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, →OCLC, page 48:

(originally nautical) Neatly and tidily to a meticulous extent.


particularly

The apéritifs were particularly stimulating.

We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools[…]as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

2013 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

But as the half progressed, Liverpool's pressure and high-tempo passing game increased United's frustration and it threatened to boil over on the stroke of half-time when Van Persie, who had already been booked, was involved in angry verbal exchanges with several Liverpool players, particularly Gerrard.

2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:

[Minnesota Senator Steve] Daines isn’t the only example of right-wing politicians who wish to wield anti-Semitism as a convenient cudgel against their political enemies, with scant if any evidence. But Montana’s vanishingly small Jewish population makes it particularly clear that this strategy has little to do with flesh-and-blood Jews at all.

2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ:

He, rather too particularly perhaps, avoids public company, and is the very reverse of a bon vivant.

1825, Oxberry's dramatic biography and histrionic anecdotes:

(dated) In a particular manner; fussily.


bowled

(cricket) (Dismissed) by the bowled ball hitting and breaking the batsman's wicket.


chiefly

en-adv

chiefly (comparative more chiefly, superlative most chiefly)

more chiefly (comparative)
most chiefly (superlative)

From Middle English chefly; equivalent to chief + -ly (adverbial suffix).

Their relationship is chiefly professional.

This is a term chiefly used by online gamers.

But questions presisted^([sic]), chiefly because of the acknowledged and continuing Federal investigation of Mr. Mandel's wealthy friends, W. Dale Hess and Harry W. Rogers 3d, who have profited from business with the state.

1975 July 7, Ben A. Franklin, “MANDEL INQUIRY STIRS MARYLAND”, in The New York Times:

(focus) Especially or primarily; above all.

(focus) Mainly or principally; almost entirely.

гла́вным о́бразом more literary and official


mostly

They're mostly good people, although they have made a few mistakes.

Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

Mainly or chiefly; for the most part; usually, generally, on the whole.

She was to be their chosen visitor, she was to be for weeks under the same roof with the person whose society she mostly prized [...]!

1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:

(obsolete) To the greatest extent; most.


mainly

From Middle English maynly; equivalent to main + -ly.

She had Lord James' collar in one big fist and she pounded the table with the other and talked a blue streak. Nobody could make out plain what she said, for she was mainly jabbering Swede lingo, but there was English enough, of a kind, to give us some idee.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Such breadth of ſhoulders as might mainely beare
Olde Atlas burthen, […]

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act (please specify |act=I or II), scene i:

Mainly they all attonce vpon him laid, / And sore beset on euery side around […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

But in the end, mainly crying out, he fell to raling and wringing his master, upbraiding him that he was not a true Philosopher[…].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 31, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

(obsolete) Of the production of a sound: loudly, powerfully.

(obsolete) To a great degree; very much.


everyday

From Middle English everidayes, every daies, every dayes (“everyday, daily, continual, constant”, adjective, literally “every day's”), equivalent to every + day.

Misspelling of every day (compare everywhere, everyway, etc.).


otherwise

/ˈʌð.əˌwaɪz/

/ˈʌð.ɚˌwaɪz/

From Middle English otherwise, othre wise, from Old English on ōþre wīsan (literally “in (on) other/different manner”); equivalent to other + -wise. Compare West Frisian yn oarwei (“otherwise”), Icelandic öðruvísi (“different”).

inh

You may have a point, but I think otherwise.

Could I do otherwise than smile?

It is not permitted to sell or otherwise distribute any copies.

There was one rotten apple in an otherwise perfect batch.

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, euen the wordes of our Lord Iesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godlinesse:

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 6:3:

Much as I wish that I had not to write this chapter, I know that I shall have to swallow many such bitter draughts in the course of this narrative. And I cannot do otherwise, if I claim to be a worshipper of Truth. […]

1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter iii

Fabio Capello insisted Rooney was in the right frame of mind to play in stormy Podgorica despite his father's arrest on Thursday in a probe into alleged betting irregularities, but his flash of temper - when he kicked out at Miodrag Dzudovic - suggested otherwise.

2011, Phil McNulty, Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England:

I’m not well today, otherwise I would have helped.

You have to open your umbrella, otherwise you'll get wet.

They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

Creating a complete map of the human connectome would therefore be a monumental milestone but not the end of the journey to understanding how our brains work. The achievement will transform neuroscience and serve as the starting point for asking questions we could not otherwise have answered,[…].

2012 March-April, Terrence J. Sejnowski, “Well-connected Brains”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 171:

(conjunctive) In different circumstances; or else.

He lost his temper once in a while. Otherwise he behaved rationally.

Looking back at more than four years spent going to college I can now positively say that the most meaninful thing I accomplished (the only meaningful thing I accomplished!) was establishing a gay liberation group on campus. Otherwise my college education was almost useless.

1977 December 10, Mark N. Silber, “Gays On Campus — One Story”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 23, page 9:

Robin van Persie squandered United's best chance late on but otherwise it was a relatively comfortable afternoon for Liverpool's new goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who has yet to concede a Premier League goal since his £9m summer move from Sunderland.

2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:


especially

en-adv

especially (comparative more especially, superlative most especially)

more especially (comparative)
most especially (superlative)

He got up early especially.

L.N.E.R. class "Y6" 3 ft. 1 in. 0-4-0 steam tram locomotive No. 7133
This locomotive, constructed at the Stratford works of the former Great Eastern Railway in 1897, was one of six which were built between 1883 and 1897 especially to work the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.

1944 July and August, Railway Magazine, page 233, photo caption:

(manner) In a special manner; specially.

There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:

(focus) Particularly; to a greater extent than is normal.

Invite them all, especially Molly.

Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

(focus) Used to place greater emphasis upon someone or something.


sore

From Middle English sor, from Old English sār (“ache, wound”, noun) and sār (“painful, grievous”, adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *sair, from Proto-Germanic *sairaz (adjective) from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂eyro-, enlargement of *sh₂ey- (“to be fierce, afflict”).
See also Dutch zeer (“sore, ache”), Danish sår (“wound”), German sehr (“very”); also Hittite [script needed] (sāwar, “anger”), Welsh hoed (“pain”), Ancient Greek αἱμωδία (haimōdía, “sensation of having teeth on edge”).

cog

And they answered Ioshua, and said, Because it was certainely told thy seruants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his seruant Moses to giue you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our liues because of you, and haue done this thing.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 9:24:

But on that day when Lancelot fled the lists, / His party, knights of utmost North and West, / Lords of waste marches, kings of desolate isles, / Came round their great Pendragon, saying to him / 'Lo, Sire, our knight thro' whom we won the day / Hath gone sore wounded, and hath left his prize / Untaken, crying that his prize is death.'

1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 174–175:

Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.

1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Old Punt: A Curious ‘Turnpike’”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:

(archaic) Very, excessively, extremely (of something bad).

And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, […]

1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

[… they] were often sore pressed to follow the trail at all, and at best were so delayed that in the afternoon of the second day, they still had not overhauled the fugitive.

1919, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jungle Tales of Tarzan:


caught behind

(cricket) Describing the way of being out by being caught by the wicketkeeper.


sundry

en-adv

sundry (comparative more sundry, superlative most sundry)

more sundry (comparative)
most sundry (superlative)

From Middle English sondri, sondry, syndri (“individually; now and then, occasionally; physically apart, separately; variously”) [and other forms], from Old English syndrige [and other forms], from Old English syndriġ (adjective): see further at etymology 1.
cognates
* Old High German suntarīgo

nb...

sindri, sundri, sundry, syndry, (Early Middle English) sindriȝ, sindriʒ

(Northumbria) suindrige, sundrig, swyndria

[O]ur joynts have almost been pulled sundry, with driving in hackney coaches throu all corners, amongst our great men, for some weeks; […]

1712 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Blackwell, “XIV. Mr. Blackwell to Provost Ross.”, in John Stuart, editor, The Miscellany of the Spalding Club, volume I, Aberdeen: […] [William Bennett] for the Club, published 1841, →OCLC, part IV (Letters from Professor Blackwell, and Others, to John Ross of Arnage, Provost of Aberdeen), page 220:

Synonym of asunder (“into separate parts or pieces”)

[T]he church of Epheſus, or, of any certain place, includeth all the profeſſors living there; they are accounted of that church, and no other, as providence hath put them together: and the churches are divided as they live ſundry.

1658, James Durham, “Lecture V”, in A Learned and Complete Commentary upon the Book of the Revelation. […], Glasgow: […] David Niven, for James Spencer, […], published 1788, →OCLC, paragraph 5, page 51, column 1:

Theſe three in theſe three rovvmes did ſondry dvvell, / And counſelled faire Alma, hovv to gouerne vvell.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 48, page 320:

(obsolete) Individually, separately; sundrily.


zigzag

en-adv

zigzag (comparative more zigzag, superlative most zigzag)

more zigzag (comparative)
most zigzag (superlative)

Attested from 1712. Borrowed from French zigzag (attested from 1662), possibly from a Germanic source via Walloon ziczac (although German Zickzack is attested only from 1703). Also, possibly from the shape of the letter Z, which appears twice in the word.


fundamentally

fundamentally (comparative more fundamentally, superlative most fundamentally)

more fundamentally (comparative)
most fundamentally (superlative)

Hanks is known as being an avid reader of history and biography, and seems to seek out stories which offer a certain optimism and humanism. In other words, he plays – fundamentally – good people.

2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC:

In a fundamental or basic sense; reaching the very core of the matter.


clearly

clearly (comparative more clearly or (archaic) clearlier, superlative most clearly or (archaic) clearliest)

more clearly (comparative)
clearlier (archaic comparative)
most clearly (superlative)
clearliest (archaic superlative)

From Middle English clerli, clerely, clerelych, cleerliche, clerliche, equivalent to clear + -ly.

He enunciated every syllable clearly.

Clearly, the judge erred in his opinion.

While Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had warned his players against letting the pre-match festivities distract them from the task at hand, they clearly struggled for fluency early on.

2011 December 10, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 1 - 0 Everton”, in BBC Sport:

He was clearly wrong on all points but one.

(degree) To a degree clearly discernible.

claramente

(degree) to a degree clearly discernible


neither

Alteration (after either) of nauther, from Middle English nawther, noþer, naðer (whence also Modern nor), from Old English nāwþer, contraction of nāhwæþer, corresponding to no + whether. Compare Latin neuter (“neither”). By surface analysis, not + either.

Just as you would not correct it, neither would I.

Neither can she stop him, nor can he stop her.

Neither now, nor ever will he forsake his mother.

The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. […] current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate […] “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.

2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:


supply

supply (comparative more supply, superlative most supply)

more supply (comparative)
most supply (superlative)

His voice was playful and full; his back was bent supply.

1906, Ford Madox Ford, The fifth queen: and how she came to court, page 68:

[…] the rain struck on her head as she bent supply to the movements of the pony, while it scrambled up the bank to the sheltering trees. For a couple of miles the path ran through woods alive with the varied voices of the rain, […]

1938, David Leslie Murray, Commander of the mists:

She swayed slightly in the gusts, bent supply to them and seemed at one with the force which Straup found so hostile.

Grigory hesitantly took her in his arms to kiss her, but she held him off, bent supply backwards and shot a frightened glance at the windows.
'They'll see!'
'Let them!'
'I'd be ashamed—'

1988, Михаи́л Алекса́ндрович Шо́лохов (Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov), Quiet flows the Don (translated), volume 1, page 96

Supplely: in a supple manner, with suppleness.


outwith

From Middle English outwith, outewith, a transposed variant of Middle English withoute (“without”). Cognate to Scots ootwi. By surface analysis, out + with.


upward

From Old English upweardes, equivalent to up + -ward.

We ran upward.

Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail.

1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

In a direction from lower to higher; toward a higher place; in a course toward the source or origin.

Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man, / And downward fish.

1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

From twenty years old and upward.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 1:3:

Yet more; indefinitely more; above; over.


nowhen

From no + when, by analogy with nowhere. See quotation from 1996.

Again, whatever is not here nor there, now nor then, is capable of being nowhen or nowhere; and so all things which consist of parts, though they may exist always (like Time) or everywhere (like the Universe),[…]

1915, Clement Charles Julian Webb, Studies in the History of Natural Theology, page 186:

Do they have continuous existence, nowhere and nowhen, or are they created as needed by categorial reason? On what ground can we postulate them in order to define truth? If they merely copy the world why do we need them and how do we[…]

2017 October 3, Albert Peter Pacelli, Being and Intelligibility, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 220:


hyperbolically

hyperbolically (comparative more hyperbolically, superlative most hyperbolically)

more hyperbolically (comparative)
most hyperbolically (superlative)


dreadfully

dreadfully (comparative more dreadfully, superlative most dreadfully)

more dreadfully (comparative)
most dreadfully (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English dredfully, dradefullich, dredefullich; equivalent to dreadful + -ly.

That restaurant seems dreadfully expensive.

At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.

1888, Oscar Wilde, “The Happy Prince”, in The Happy Prince and Other Tales:

“Here it is,” said Eddie. “‘Why Must it Always be Tomato Soup?’ It's so deeply true, don't you feel? Tomato soup is so dreadfully eternal.”

1918 August, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Bliss”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, pages 135–136:

(dated) Exceptionally, eminently, very much.


astride

The men ride their horses astride.


tickle

tickle (comparative more tickle, superlative most tickle)

more tickle (comparative)
most tickle (superlative)

From Middle English tiklen, tikelen, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a frequentative form of Middle English tikken (“to touch lightly”), thus equivalent to tick + -le; or perhaps related to Old English tinclian (“to tickle”). Compare North Frisian tigele (“to tickle”) (Hallig dialect), and tiikle (“to tickle”) (Amrum dialect), German dialectal zicklen (“to excite; stir up”).
Alternatively, from a metathetic alteration of Middle English kitelen ("to tickle"; see kittle).

gloss

"to tickle"; see <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">kittle</i>

Lucio. I warrant it is: And thy head stands so tickle on
thy shoulders, that a milke-maid, if she be in loue, may
sigh it off: Send after the Duke, and appeale to him.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:


forth

From Middle English forth, from Old English forþ, from Proto-West Germanic *forþ, from Proto-Germanic *furþą, from Proto-Indo-European *pŕ̥-to-, from *per-. Cognate with Dutch voort. See also ford.

From this time forth, I never will speak word.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 159:

1709-1725, John Strype, Annals of the Reformation in England
say forth

“[…] They talk of you as if you were Croesus—and I expect the beggars sponge on you unconscionably.” And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

The plants in spring put forth leaves.

The robbers leapt forth from their place of concealment.

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: […]

1949, Joseph Campbell, “The Hero and the God”, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:

Out into view; from a particular place or position.

I have no mind of feasting forth to-night.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene v]:

(obsolete) Beyond a (certain) boundary; away; abroad; out.


nearly

en-adv

nearly (comparative nearlier or more nearly, superlative nearliest or most nearly)

nearlier (comparative)
more nearly (comparative)
nearliest (superlative)
most nearly (superlative)

From near + -ly. Cognate with Scots nerelie, neirlie (“nearly”). Compare also English nearling, nearlings.

He left a nearly full beer on the bar.

I nearly didn't go to work yesterday.

He was (so/very) nearly caught.

She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

'Since Heidi's been here, delightful things have happened nearly every day.'

1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 97:

In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter.

2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, archived from the original on 2013-05-09, page 184:

In close approximation; almost, virtually.

And whosoever hath traced mee and nearely [translating de pres] looked into my humours, Ile loose a good wager if hee confesse not that there is no rule in their schoole, could, a midde such crooked pathes and divers windings, square and report this naturall motion, and maintaine an apparance of liberty and licence so equall and inflexible […].

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 1, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book III, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

(now rare) With great scrutiny; carefully.

Let that which he learns next be nearly conjoined with what he knows already.

a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:

She could have joined most comfortably in all their supposings, and suspicions, and doubts, and prognostications, but the honour of the family was too nearly concerned to allow free reins to her tongue.

[H]e was also accounted a man of wealth, and was nearly related to a high chief.

1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

I doubt some danger do's approach you neerely.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:


indoors

We stayed indoors to avoid the brutal heat.

We went indoors when it started to rain.


free of charge

They were giving the tickets away free of charge.


plain

From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleyn, playn, Middle French plain, plein, and Old French plain, from Latin plānus (“flat, even, level, plain”).

der

It was just plain stupid.

I plain forgot.

Tell me plain: do you love me or no?


funny

She was breathing funny now.

1970, Troy Conway, The Cunning Linguist, London: Flamingo Books, page 41:

(nonstandard) In an unusual manner; strangely.

Dem nuh waan nuh honey, dem only waan di money. Dat’s how me know seh dem bwoy deh all a move funny.

2002, Sean Paul, “Like Glue”, in Dutty Rock (album title):

Nuff boy move funny just fi get money.

(Jamaica, offensive, derogatory) In a manner seen as being typical of a homosexual, or indicating homosexuality


inland

en-adv

inland (comparative more inland, superlative most inland)

more inland (comparative)
most inland (superlative)

From Middle English inland, inlond, from Old English inland, equivalent to in- + land. Compare West Frisian ynlân (“inland”), German Inland (“inland”), Danish indland (“inland”), Swedish inland (“inland”), Norwegian innland (“inland”). Compare also Dutch binnenland.

The greatest waves of population have rolled inland from the east.

1836, Sharon Turner, The History of England […] :

Into, or towards, the interior of the land, away from the coast.


beneath

From Middle English benethe, from Old English bineoþan (“beneath, under, below”), equivalent to be- + neath. Cognate with Low German benedden (“beneath”), Dutch beneden (“beneath, under, down”), obsolete German benieden (“below”).

inh

Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80:


rear

From Middle English rere, from Anglo-Norman rere, ultimately from Latin retro. Compare arrear. Doublet of retro.

Then why does Cuddy leave his cot so rear!


swiftly

en-adv

swiftly (comparative swiftlier or more swiftly, superlative swiftliest or most swiftly)

swiftlier (comparative)
more swiftly (comparative)
swiftliest (superlative)
most swiftly (superlative)

From Middle English swiftly, swyftely, swiftliche, from Old English swiftlīċe (“swiftly”), equivalent to swift + -ly.

Mrs. Piper cut short these piracies by swiftly removing his spoon.

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 21:

Strategic sites in even the remotest regions of the kingdom were swiftly fortified using forced labour.

1999, Linda Flavell, Roger Flavell, “1066[:] The Normans Begin to Erect Castles”, in dictionary of english down through the ages[:] words & phrases born out of historical events great & small, 2005 edition, London: Kyle Cathie Limited, →ISBN, page 17:

[T]he early hostility of the Bulgarian supporters was swiftly subdued.

2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC:

In a swift manner; quickly; with quick motion or velocity; fleetly.


miles

Her new paintings are miles better than her older ones.

The recipe was miles too strong.

1972, Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Knopf, page 129:

much; a lot (used to emphasise a comparative)


days

From Middle English daies, from Old English dæġes (“by day”), from Proto-Germanic *dagas, *dagis, genitive of *dagaz, equivalent to day + -s (adverbial ending).

She works days at the garage.


irrespective of

Opposite of Medieval Latin respectivus, "having regard for", from Latin respectus.

Regardless of; without regard for; without considering.


fierce

From Middle English fers, fiers, borrowed from Old French fers (“wild", "ferocious”), nominative of fer, from Latin ferus (“wild", "untamed”).

It was fierce cold last night.

(slang, Ireland, rustic) Extremely; very.


base over apex

(informal, idiomatic) Falling over in a jumbled heap.


widdershins

Ca. 1500, from Middle Low German weddersins (also wēder-, -sinnes), from wed(d)der- (“wither-, against, opposite”) + genitive of sin (“direction, way”).

It is unlucky to walk widdershins around a church.

Astronomers cannot help regarding the solar system as a small widdershins universe, because the real movements with which they are familiar are nearly all widdershins: the rotation of the sun on its axis, the rotation and revolution of the earth and the moon, the rotation and revolution of the planets and of most of their satellites.

1946, Herbert McKay, The World of Numbers, Cambridge University Press, →OL, page 45:

"'Widdershins, brother!" said Catweazle impatiently. "Widdershins!" "What are you babbling about?" said Carrot. "We must seek protection. Dost not know 'widdershins?" "No," said Carrot. "'Tis beyond belief," said Catweazle, shaking his head. Spreading his arms, the old sorcerer crouched down and began to revolve on the spot. Faster and faster he whirled until he was like a spinning top.

1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, published 1984, page x. 136:

Cummer, go ye before, cummer, go ye.
If ye willna go before, cummer, let me.
Ring-a-ring a-widdershins
Linkin' lithely widdershins
Cummer carlin crone and queen
Roun' go we!

The next hour wedge in a counterclockwise (or widdershins) direction, between 8:00 and 7:00 is the 2nd house. The 8:00 line is the cusp of the 2nd house. You continue all around the wheel widdershins until you get to the hour wedge ...

1995, Estelle Daniels, Astrologickal Magick, Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 23:

I like to carry the incense widdershins around the room (widdershins being the direction of banishing) and then also run the incense widdershins around windows, doors, and mirrors. You can also do this type of cleansing with a container of ...

2002, Laura Perry, The Wiccan Wellness Book: Natural Healthcare for Mind, Body, and Spirit, Career Press, →ISBN, page 87:

They even had a word for it, widdershins, an adaptation of the German word wiederschein, which means “against the sun.” If you walked around a bonfire counterclockwise, or widdershins, you were suspected of harboring a penchant for ...

2005, Melissa Roth, The Left Stuff: How the Left-Handed Have Survived and Thrived in a Right-Handed World, Government Institutes, →ISBN, page 29:

Widdershins are movements around the circle in an anti clockwise dance. Some witches may find it useful to recite the Lord's Prayer Backwards while moving widdershins in the beginning of the Sabbat Rite, this allowing or 'giving permission' ...

2005, Michael Ford, Luciferian Witchcraft, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 98:

In the Dianic tradition, the cast circle is opened in conjunction with valedictions in reverse order, also known as widdershins or counterclockwise, starting with a valediction to earth and moving from north, to west, to south, to east. In the Dianic ...

2007, Ruth Barrett, Women's Rites, Women's Mysteries: Intuitive Ritual Creation, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN, page 88:

The one thing we didn't think of, due in part to our quasi-Gardnerian training, is that one grinds the mill widdershins — counterclockwise, not clockwise. The counterclockwise motion (also called “Moonwise”) churns the energy against ...

2008, Ann Finnin, The Forge of Tubal Cain, Pendraig Publishing, →ISBN, page 55:

The contrary way is widdershins, the way in which the witches danced at the Sabbats. The deosil movement affirms the rule of God's law in Nature because it is the Way of the Sun; the widdershins movement repudiates God's rule over Nature ...

2011, Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense: The Classic Instruction Manual for Protecting Yourself Against Paranormal Attack, Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 197:

Before people started arriving, I began the day as I always did: by sprinkling saltwater widdershins—counterclockwise—around the perimeter of my shop, then smudging deosil—clockwise—with a sage bundle.

2012, Juliet Blackwell, In a Witch's Wardrobe: A Witchcraft Mystery, New York, NY: New American Library, →ISBN, page 32:


exponentially

exponentially (comparative more exponentially, superlative most exponentially)

more exponentially (comparative)
most exponentially (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-exponentially.wav

But every known algorithm for this problem requires a number of steps that increases exponentially as n increases.

1992, Clark Glymour, Thinking Things Through: An Introduction to Philosophical Issues and Achievements, MIT Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 333:

Therefore, if absorption causes an attenuation of the oscillation amplitude, the temperature must decrease exponentially with increasing thickness.

2000, Shuji Nakamura et al., The Blue Laser Diode: The Complete Story, Second Revised and Enlarged Edition, Springer, →ISBN, page 69:

It can be readily derived from Eqs. 6.26 and 6.32 that the field generated by these incident evanescent waves inside the slab do ^([sic]) not decay away exponentially from the upper interface, but increases exponentially as y decreases.

2008, Henri Benisty et al., Photonic Crystals: Towards Nanoscale Photonic Devices, Second Edition, Springer, →ISBN, page 216:

(mathematics, sciences) In an exponential manner.

The more serious a Christian is about God's kingdom, the more exponentially complicating that venture is […]

2007, Michael Glenn Maness, Would You Lie to Save a Life: Love Will Find a Way Home, page 357:

He'd felt like Kathryn's soul was in her eyes as she'd regarded him for those precious few seconds... and her spirit was even more exponentially beautiful than […]

2008, Beth Kery, Take a Stranger No More, page 27:


back to front

I was in such a hurry that I put my underpants on back to front.

Turned so that the back is now at the front.

sens devant derrière

turned so that the back is now at the front


mutatis mutandis

Unadapted borrowing from Late Latin mūtātīs mūtandīs (“with [the things] to be changed having been changed”).

ubor

with 􂀿the things􂁀 to be changed having been changed

And like billes, mutatis mutandis, were put In ayenst Gloucestre & Worcestre

a.''' 1525, The Coventry Leet Book, page 595:

26 May 1564. M. to Mr. Tipton, and another (mutatis mutandis) to Mr. Cuerton. Pp. 3.

1863, H.M.'s Public Record Office, Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, of the Reign of Elizabeth, volume VII, page 141:

What is said of the army here is to be taken also to apply, mutatis mutandis, to the air force and the navy.

1962, Samuel Edward Finer, chapter 2, in The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics:

Similar considerations apply, mutatis mutandis, to the example of nightmare imagined by Brown.

1962, Norman Malcolm, chapter 15, in Dreaming:

(especially law) with the necessary changes being made; with the necessary modifications; with such changes as are necessary to ensure congruence


inside out

In the sense thoroughly, an asyndetic clipping of inside and out.

I now realise that I have my shirt on inside out.

(not comparable) With the inside surface turned to be on the outside.

binnestebuite

with the inside turned to be on the outside

I know IBM Assembler Language inside out.

(of knowledge) Thoroughly; extremely well.

We're hometown hockey fans inside out.

(of characteristic existence) Completely; through and through; to the core.

He hit the ball inside out in an ugly manner, but scored a four.

(cricket) Describes the hitting of a ball that pitched outside of leg stump to the off side of the field.


normally

en-adv

normally (comparative more normally, superlative most normally)

more normally (comparative)
most normally (superlative)

Normally, I eat breakfast at 6am, but today, I got up late and didn't eat until 9.

Under normal conditions or circumstances; usually; most of the time

gewoonlik

under normal conditions or circumstances; usually; most of the time

Lisa ate normally, until she realised that she was late for choir, when she sped up.

He was abnormally agitated, she only normally so.

An even more important reason is that our generation is not only normally ignorant but abnormally so. That is, we not only have scholars who do not know the history of the church's testimony, but we have those who tell it like it was not.

1984, Robert Charles Sproul, John Henry Gerstner, Arthur Lindsley, Classical Apologetics, →ISBN, page 178:

To a usual or customary extent or degree.

(mathematics, statistics) In the manner of a variable with a Gaussian distribution.


truly

truly (comparative trulier or more truly, superlative truliest or most truly)

trulier (comparative)
more truly (comparative)
truliest (superlative)
most truly (superlative)

From Middle English truely, treuly, treuli, trewely, treoweliche, treowliche, from Old English trēowlīċe (“faithfully; truly”), equivalent to true + -ly. Cognate with Dutch trouwelijk, Middle Low German truwlike, German treulich, Swedish trolig, Icelandic trygglega.

inh

He adds, very truly, that what was fatal to such philosophies as his was not Christianity but the Copernican theory.

1946, Bertrand Russell, chapter I, in History of Western Philosophy, page 27:

(manner) In accordance with the facts; truthfully, accurately.

That is truly all I know.

Truly, that is all I know.

(modal) Honestly, genuinely, in fact, really.

You are truly silly.


solo

Borrowed from Italian solo, from Latin sōlus, probably related to se (“himself”).

Two of us wearing raincoats / Standing solo / In the sun

1970, Paul McCartney (lyrics and music), “Two of Us”, in Let it Be:

Wake me up before you go-go / 'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo

1984, “Wake me up before you go-go”, George Michael (lyrics), George Michael (music), performed by Wham!:

The Canadian superstar had been rumoured to be singing a duet with Lady Gaga, but instead went solo on the Eiffel Tower to bring the four-hour event to a stirring climax.

2024 July 27, Ian Youngs, “Celine Dion makes stirring comeback at Olympics”, in bbc.com:


beside

From Middle English beside, besiden, bisyde (also besides > besides), from Old English be sīdan, bī sīdan (“by the side (of), on the side (of)”), equivalent to be- + side. Compare Saterland Frisian biesiede (“aside”), German Low German bisied (“aside”), German beiseite (“aside, to one side”). Compare also Dutch terzijde (“aside”).

To all beside, as much an empty shade,
An Eugene living, as a Caesar dead.

1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

April 8 1805, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Orange Blossom"
O how the honey tells the tale of its birthplace to the sense of sight and odour! and to how many minute and uneyeable insects beside!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
 Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
 The lone and level sands stretch far away.

1817 (published 11 January 1818), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Sonnet. Ozymandias.”, in Rosalind and Helen, a Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 92:

Eternal form shall still divide
The eternal soul from all beside;
And I shall know him when we meet: […]

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XLVI, page 69:


upside down

Alteration of earlier up so down, from Middle English up-so-doun, upsedowne, upsadowne (“upside down”), equivalent to up + so + down ("up as down").

The Union flag was flying upside down, a sign of danger.

For, suddenly, I saw you there / And through foggy London town / The sun was shining upside down!

1937, “A Foggy Day (In London Town)”, Ira Gershwin (lyrics), George Gershwin (music):

Inverted, so that the top is now at the bottom.

The thief had turned the room upside down.

This house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died.

c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:


a lot

Thanks a lot for listening to me.

It's a lot harder than it looks.

Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

2013 June 29, “A punch in the gut”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, pages 72–3:

(informal) Very much; a great deal; to a large extent.

I go swimming a lot.


running

Mom's strawberry jam won the blue ribbon at the Holland County Fair three years running.


homily

en-adv

homily (comparative more homily, superlative most homily)

more homily (comparative)
most homily (superlative)

Rocky handed it [the beer] to Bob, whose demurrals petered out as he held the can's cold actuality in his hand. It bore the smiling face of Lynn Swann. He opened it. Leo farted homily to close the transaction.

1980, Stephen King, Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game:


upgrade

Men fell out, worn-out, and there were sunstroke cases. It was an eight-mile march upgrade.

1955, Carl Sandburg, Prairie-town boy, page 173:

Northbound trains originating near the Ohio River faced a 26-mile climb upgrade to Flushing.

2009, Craig Sanders, Canton Area Railroads, page 66:

From there it was an eight-mile pull upgrade to the mountain top.

2010, Elliott Merrick, True North: A Journey Into Unexplored Wilderness, page 167:

I did that and saw we had to go upgrade a long ways.

2013, Marty Metras, Walking the Walk, Camino de Santiago 2012, page 16:

[...] 37905 hauls the 1,400-tonne 0730 Mossend-Margam upgrade from Shrewsbury, mainly at 1-in-100, through Church Stretton at around 25mph on May 13 1989.

2020 December 16, David Clough, “Class 37s at 60: the great survivors”, in Rail, page 55, photo caption:


besides

From Middle English bisides (also bisiden), extension of biside, equivalent to beside + -s (adverbial suffix).

It is besides used as a food, either as a sallad^([sic]), raw, or boiled as greens.

1776, Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides, 1772:

This was but one of Cluny’s hiding-places; he had caves, besides, and underground chambers in several parts of his country; and following the reports of his scouts, he moved from one to another as the soldiers drew near or moved away.

1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC:

In the end, Chelsea's organisation and discipline was rewarded but Di Matteo knows they will have to produce the same - and more besides - in the Nou Camp to confirm a meeting with either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final in Munich next month.

2012 April 18, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona”, in BBC Sport:

I don't feel like going out tonight. Besides, I have to work tomorrow morning anyway.

(conjunctive) Used to emphasize an additional point, especially an important or stronger reason; moreover; furthermore.

I have been to Spain but nowhere besides.

You are so strongly in my purpose bred
That all the world besides methinks are dead

1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 112”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

Yet Teucer would another shaft, at Hectors life dispose;
 So faine, he such a marke would hit: but still besides it goes;

c. 1611, George Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 8, p. 111:


sometime

From Middle English somtyme, som time, some tyme, sume time, sumtym, sumtyme, equivalent to some + time.

I'll see you at the pub sometime this evening.

This will certainly happen sometime in the future.

It happened sometime yesterday.

At an indefinite but stated time in the past or future.

কেতিয়াবা

at an indefinite but stated time in the past or future

Did they not sometime cry "All hail" to me?

1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

(obsolete) At an unstated past or future time; once; formerly.


instant

From French instant and Middle English instant, both from Old French, from Latin instans (“standing by, being near, present, also urgent, importunate”), present participle of instō (“to stand upon, press upon, urge, pursue, insist”), from in (“on, upon”) + stō (“to stand”); see state.

der

He left the room for his relinquished sword, / And Julia instant to the closet flew.


voluntary

en-adv

voluntary (comparative more voluntary, superlative most voluntary)

more voluntary (comparative)
most voluntary (superlative)

From Middle English *voluntarie, from Old French volontaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, of free will”), from voluntās (“will, choice, desire”), from volēns, present participle of volo (“to will”). Displaced native Old English selfwille (literally “self-willed”).

ncog

And all that els was pretious and deare, / The sea unto him voluntary brings [...].

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:


longer

From Middle English longer, longere, normalisation of Middle English lenger, lengere (“longer”), from Old English lengra (“longer”), from Proto-Germanic *langizô (“longer”), comparative of Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), equivalent to long + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian laanger (“longer”), West Frisian langer (“longer”), Dutch langer (“longer”), German länger (“longer”), Danish længere (“longer”), Swedish längre (“longer”), Icelandic lengri (“longer”).


widely

en-adv

widely (comparative widelier or more widely, superlative wideliest or most widely)

widelier (comparative)
more widely (comparative)
wideliest (superlative)
most widely (superlative)

From Middle English wijdly, equivalent to wide + -ly.

In 1866 Colonel J. F. Meline noted that the rebozo had almost disappeared in Santa Fe and that hoop skirts, on sale in the stores, were being widely used.

1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico / The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 75:

Kim Jong-il, who has died aged 69, was the general secretary of the Workers party of Korea, and head of the military in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). He was one of the most reclusive and widely condemned national leaders of the late 20th and early 21st century, leaving his country diplomatically isolated, economically broken and divided from South Korea.

2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian:

Demandt discusses a German example, Ferdinand Grautoff's 1906. Der Zusammenbuch der Alten Welt (1905) (cf. Es hätte auch... 195-196). Thus, a war widely predicted in fiction is only exiguously remembered in post factum allohistorical narratives.

2014 October 14, David Malcolm, “The Great War Re-Remembered: Allohistory and Allohistorical Fiction”, in Martin Löschnigg, Marzena Sokolowska-Paryz, editors, The Great War in Post-Memory Literature and Film, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG., →ISBN, page 173:

(figurative) Commonly; generally; to a great degree.


terrible

terrible (comparative more terrible, superlative most terrible)

more terrible (comparative)
most terrible (superlative)

tearable (with /ə/ and merry-Mary merger)

From Middle English terrible, from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis (“frightful”), from terreō (“I frighten, terrify, alarm; I deter by terror, scare (away)”). Compare terror, deter. Equivalent to terror + -ible.

‘Oh, terrible bad, sir, terrible deep the snow is,’ said the hedgehog.

1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, Ware: Wordsworth Classics, published 1993, page 59:

(colloquial, dialect) In a terrible way; to a terrible extent; terribly; awfully.