laidly, a. Now Sc. and arch. (with allusion to ballad use).
(ˈleɪdlɪ)
Also 4 laithly, 5 lathely, 6 laithlie, 7, 9 laidlie, 8 laily.
[Northern var. of loathly.]
Offensive, hideous, repulsive.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2406 (Gött.) Sore i me drede, Þar we wend bi þis laithly lede. a 1400–50 Alexander 491 He..Lete sa lathely a late. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. viii. 100 Wynis gude Anon returnit into laithlie blude. 1567 Gude & Godly Ball. (S.T.S.) 40 Lickand the fylth furth of his laithlie flesche. a 1605 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 132 With laidlie language, loud and large. a 1800 Laily Worm & Machrel ii. in Child Ballads (1884) I. 316/1 She has made me the laily worm, That lies at the fit o the Tree. 1843 Blackw. Mag. LIII. 177 When first the destrier eyed The laidly thing, it swerved aside. 1849 Lytton K. Arthur vi. lxvi, The laidliest widows find consoling mates. 1878 19th Cent. 992 Her laidly wooer, whose income was better than his looks. 1884 Q. Rev. Apr. 326 Long black boats, outriggered, and manned, as one might think, by a lot of overgrown black spiders, so long, so lank, so ‘laidlie’ are the crew. |