▪ I. † ˈlately, a. Obs.
[f. late a.1 + -ly1.]
1. Slow.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 117 He, þat yn goynge, hauys his paas large and latly, welfare shall folwe him yn all his werkys. |
2. Recent, late.
| 1581 Stubbes Two Wunderf. Examples in Shaks. Soc. Papers (1849) IV. 85 Remember thou thy lately plague, of blayne, of botche, and bile. |
▪ II. lately, adv.
(ˈleɪtlɪ)
[OE. lætl{iacu}ce (= ON. latliga), f. læt- late a.1 + -l{iacu}ce -ly2; but mostly a mod. formation. (The inflected comparative and superlative are obs.)]
† 1. Slowly, tardily, sluggishly; reluctantly, sparingly. Obs.
| c 1000 Life of Guthlac xx. (1848) 80/12 Ða andswarode he him lætlice. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxi. 15 Wise men of werldes witte wenes þat þai be rightwis..& forthy þai are latlier turned till shrift. a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. 17 Þou ȝernys ilke a daye þat at noghte avayles the, and euer mare ouer lattly þat it may availe the. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 55 Do he hit noght ouer latly ne ouer hastly. Ibid. 73 Sterynge of body, ne bathes vse but latly. Ibid. 114 Of a meene heued bytwen greet and lytill, latly spekyng but mystere be. |
† 2. After or beyond the usual or proper time; behind time; at a late hour, late. Obs.
| 1515 Barclay Egloges ii. (1570) A v b/1 That hath me caused so lately to be here. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1590) 2 A policie..which they put in practise too lately. 1614 Lodge Seneca 1 Being badly lent, they are worse satisfied, and being unrestored are too lately complained of. |
3. Not long since; within a short time past; within recent times; recently, of late.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 210/1 Latly, nuper. 1494 Fabyan Chron. i. iv. 11 There to buylde a Cytie in the remembraunce of the Cytie of Troye lately subuerted. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xiii. 6 Bot laitly lichtit of my meir, I come of Edinburch fra the Sessioun. 1526 Tindale Acts xviii. 2 A..iewe named Aquila,..latly come from Itali. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 104 The sekkis..quhilk ar rissine laitlie in the kirk. 1581 Savile Tacitus' Hist. ii. liii. (1591) 85 To enquire newes of the passengers which latelyest came from those quarters. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 1131 'T was first a green Tree, then a gallant Hull, Lately a Mushroom, now a flying Gull. 1645 Milton Tetrach. Wks. 1851 IV. 167 They were suspected of pollution by some sects of Philosophy and Religions of old, and latelier among the Papists. 1670 Lady M. Bertie in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 22 There is letely come out a new play by Mr. Dreyden. a 1758 Ramsay Vision vi, Thy graneing, and maneing, Have laitlie reich'd myne eir. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xvi, One of your tenants, whose mother is lately dead. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. I. 469 The Exclusionists, lately so powerful, might rise in arms against him. |
b. In comb. with ppl. adjs.
| 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 230 Some vnexperienced & lately⁓pressed souldiers. 1612 Drayton Polyolb. xvii. 267 The lately-passed times denominate the new. 1619 ― Leg. Robt. Dk. Normandy cxxi, Dealing abroad his lately-purchas'd Prey. 1848 Buckley Iliad 239 With lately-whetted axes. |
¶ 4. At a later time, subsequently. Obs. rare—1.
| 1673 Wood Life 14 July, He said that he would leave it (being too long to recite) to a book that would lately come forth. |