splendidly, adv.
(ˈsplɛndɪdlɪ)
[f. splendid a. + -ly2.]
In a splendid manner.
1. With much grandeur or display; sumptuously, grandly, gorgeously: a. In respect of living, state or ceremony, etc.
| 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 294 The Bishops of those times..lived splendidly. 1682 Wood Life 22 Jan., The old lady Sanderson..was buried verie splendidly in Westminster Abbey Church. 1693 Dryden Juvenal iii. 238 How he lives and eats; How largely gives; how splendidly he treats. 1703 Lond. Gaz. No. 3919/2 His Grace was splendidly treated by the Corporation in the Town Hall. 1839 Thirlwall Hist. Greece VI. 185 The burial of the dead..was splendidly solemnised. 1841 Thackeray Drum i. xxviii, Dukes..were splendidly served at her feasts. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. vii. (1880) II. 68 The Rucellai..kept a great table and lived splendidly. |
b. In respect of appearance, adornment, etc.
| 1675 Ogilby Britannia Introd. E, The old or Royal Exchange..more splendidly Re-built by the City and Company of Mercers. 1772–84 Cook's Voy. III. 220 All the women appeared very splendidly dressed, after the Kamtschadale fashion. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xiii, The apartments..were far more splendidly furnished than any which Quentin had yet seen in the royal palace. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 374 A plumage that is most splendidly brilliant. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre vii, They were splendidly attired in velvet, silk and furs. |
2. In a manner or style compelling admiration; magnificently, gloriously.
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. i. iii. I. 19 These have been the enquiries that have splendidly employed many..philosophers. 1859 Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. I. To Rdr., Not prone in the first instance to war, though splendidly tenacious in battle when it does come. 1880 Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 132 To break conventional laws, and be splendidly irrational. |
3. Excellently, finely.
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 393/1 We were steaming along splendidly now. 1912 Throne 7 Aug. 222/1 A set of chambers..which he said would suit us splendidly. |
4. Comb., as splendidly-bound, etc.
| 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xi. liii, Six yellow springs..Disgorge their splendidly-contagious flood. 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiography (1859) 215 With splendidly-bound ‘Heures’ and magnificent reticules. 1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day v. (ed. 3) 71 The gay throng of splendidly-uniformed military and naval officers. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 222 Well mounted..on splendidly-conditioned animals. |