shapely, a.
(ˈʃeɪplɪ)
Also 4–5 shaply, (4 schapliche, schap(p)li, schap(p)ely, compar. schaploker), 4–6 schaply.
[f. shape n.1 + -ly1. (OE. had ᵹesceapl{iacu}ce adv., fitly.)]
† 1. Fit, likely, suitable; also like (to something).
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1452 Tho sleyghtes yet þat I haue herd yow stere Ful shaply ben to fayllen alle y-fere. c 1386 ― Prol. 372 Euerich for the wisdom þat he kan Was shaply for to been an Alderman. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 264 Envie..is noght schaply forto wyve In Erthe among the wommen hiere. c 1435 Chron. London (ed. Kingsford 1905) 53 For Sorowe and Remoors, that he ys shaply to make with Inne this Rewme. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) ii. xxviii, Thyse that god knewe before sholde be made shapely to the ymage of his sone. |
2. Of good or elegant shape, well-formed.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. ii. 2 [She] bar a child, and, seynge hym shaply [Vulg. elegantem], hydde hym thre monethis. 1388 ― Gen. xxxix. 6 Forsothe Joseph was fair in face, and schapli in siȝt [Vulg. decorus aspectu]. a 1400 Pistil of Susan 118 (Vernon MS.) Als þis schaply þing ȝede in hire ȝarde. Ibid. 194 Hire scholdres schaply and schire. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 30 Þe þridde [profit is], þat þe makynge of lymes were þe more schaploker. 1406 Hoccleve La Male Regle 139 Children deere, þat so goodly so shaply were, and feir. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xv. 38 A sembly springald, a fayr ȝowng galland, Rycht schaply maid. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 237 The Ambassadour..had the end of his Nose, part of the upper and under Lip cut off, but was otherwise a shapely Man. 1785 Cowper Task ii. 76 Rude fragments now Lie scatter'd where the shapely column stood. 1883 Contemp. Rev. Oct. 613 In physique, they are taller, slighter, more lithe, shapelier, than their congeners at home. |
| absol. 1382 Wyclif Song Sol. ii. 11 My culuer, my shapli [Vulg. Formosa mea]. ― Isa. lxiii. 1 Who is this..? this shapli in his stole. 1709 Shaftesbury Moralists iii. ii. 225 An inward Eye distinguishes, and sees the Fair and Shapely. a 1834 Coleridge in Academy 15 Aug. (1885) 104/2 The distinct Perception of a Whole arising out of a distinct simultaneous perception of the Parts, in the relations of all to each, and of each to each and to all, constitutes—the Shapely. |
b. Having definite form.
rare.
| 1827 Hood Hero & Leander lxxix, She..spies blurr'd images obscurely drawn,..But her true grief grows shapely by degrees, A perish'd creature lying on her knees. 1863 Edin. Rev. Apr. 500 The plastic power of the imagination, taking up and using the existing data, forms them into a shapely conception. |
† 3. Pertaining to form.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 177 Þe makere of alle þinges þat haþ wiþ him schapliche resouns, of al manere resouns and þinges [orig. ideales rerum rationes]. |