severely, adv.
(sɪˈvɪəlɪ)
[f. severe a. + -ly2.]
1. With rigour or extreme strictness in the treatment of offenders; with severity in judgement, punishment, censure or rebuke.
| 1548 Elyot Dict., Asperè,..rigorously, seuerely. Ibid., Duriter,.. cruelly, seuerely. 1573 T. Cartwright Reply Whitgift's Answ. 27 The transgressyons of the lawe in the tyme of the gospell oughte rather to be seuerelyer punyshed then they were vnder the lawe. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 108 She..is..kept seuerely from resort of men. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §74 Olivarez had been heard to censure very severely the duke's..want of respect towards the Prince. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. v. 564 Be mercifully Just, severely Kind. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 431 ¶2 My Master received Orders every Post to use me very severely. 1759 Hume Hist. Eng. Tudors I. Mary i. 356 Taylor..was very severely handled, and was violently thrust out of the house. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 209 Of legislation such as this it is impossible to speak too severely. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. I. i. 121 The treaty of 1709..was severely censured as too favourable to the Dutch. |
b. With severe looks or demeanour.
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Exuere vultus seueros, to look no more seuerely. 1697 Dryden æneid vi. 779 Whose Jaws with Iron Teeth severely grin. 1757 W. Wilkie Epigoniad vii. 225 Severely smiling, thus the hero spoke. 1898 W. W. Jacobs Sea Urchins, Money-changers (1906) 223 The fare, who had been leaning back in the stern with a severely important air. |
c. With rigour or strictness in examining, revising, or the like.
| 1600 Jer. Taylor Worthy Commun. ii. §3. 141 Here therefore it concerns us to examine our selves strictly and severely. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 6 July 1679, Dr. Lloyd..with Dr. Burnet, who had severely examin'd him, came away astonish'd. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Benchers, His housekeeping was severely looked after, but he kept the table of a gentleman. 1897 Daily News 6 May 6/2 He wrote best, as most Frenchmen do, in the morning, and corrected much less severely than Victor Hugo. |
d. to leave or let severely alone: to avoid of set purpose; to pursue a deliberate policy of ignoring or isolating.
| 1880 Parnell Sp. 19 Sept. in R. B. O'Brien Life (1898) I. 237 You must show him..by leaving him severely alone, by putting him into a moral Coventry..your detestation of the crime he has committed. 1886 Referee 20 June 5 (Cass.), England and her wants..are to be severely let alone. 1898 Dubl. Rev. Oct. 276 The question was regarded as quite insoluble, and severely left alone. |
2. With rigour or strictness in one's own practice or conduct; rigidly, inflexibly.
| 1649 J. H. Motion to Parl. 38 Halfe a life need to be severely spent in learning them. 1703 Rowe Fair Penitent i. i. 207 With deadly Imprecations on her Self, She vow'd severely ne'er to see me more. 1726 Pope Odyss. xvi. 36 Severely chaste Penelope remains. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxii, My father is stern and strict in his temper, and severely true to his trust. 1873 M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma iii. 79 Bishop Butler, in general the most severely exact of writers. 1889 Sat. Rev. 6 Apr. 415/1 Though they were severely orthodox. |
3. With austere plainness or simplicity of style or taste.
| 1635–56 Cowley Davideis iii. Wks. 1905 I. 337 On's head an helm of well-wrought brass is place'd, The top with war⁓like Plume severely grace'd. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iii. §xv. 79 Severely rectilinear forms were associated with the curved ones in the cornice. 1878 M. E. Braddon Open Verd. I. 335 Dog-cart, severely painted darkest olive. 1885 Harper's Mag. Mar. 524/2 The fire-places..are severely plain. |
4. Painfully, grievously; in a manner, or to a degree, that is distressing or hard to bear.
| 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. x. (1716) 64 This the fallen Angels severely understand,..and more afflictively feel the contrary state of Hell. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 74 He..received the great and small Shot of one half of the Turkish Fleet, which he mawled severely. 1711 Swift Cond. Allies Wks. 1841 I. 414/2 We have shamefully misapplied [our strength]..to effect [ends], which after a peace we may severely repent. 1778 F. Burney Evelina xxi, I now most severely felt the folly of my plan. 1807 Wilkinson in Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) ii. App. 25 The night was severely cold. 1861 Geo. Eliot Silas M. vi. 38 After this feeble delusive thaw, the silence set in as severely as before. 1867 Baker Nile Tribut. viii. (1886) 107 The plague of boils broke out, and every one was attacked more or less severely. 1885 Manch. Exam. 16 May 6/1 The extremely cold nights..tell very severely on the elderly members of the House. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 121 The mangrove-swamp..stank severely. |
5. colloq. To a great or excessive degree, ‘not wisely but too well’. (Cf. severe a. 11.)
| 1854 G. J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce xii, That officer has dined ‘severely’, as he calls it, and is slightly inebriated. |