wholly, adv.
(ˈhəʊllɪ, ˈhəʊlɪ)
Forms: α. see halely. β. 4–5 hollich(e, 4–6 hoolly, holy, holly, 5–6 hooly, 6–8 wholy, (4 hoolliche, holiche, holyke, holilich, holi, hooli, 5 hoolich, holych, holli, holely, hoyly, 6 hol(l)ye, hoolye, holie, whol(l)ye, whol(l)ie, 7 wholelye, whollily), 7–8 wholey, 7– wholely, 6– wholly.
[ME. hol(l)iche, iholliche, repr. OE. type *(ᵹe)háll{iacu}ce: see whole a. and -ly2. For the northern form see halely.
The normal development of OE. (*ᵹe)háll{iacu}ce was (y)h{ohookbreve}lliche (14th–15th c.), giving ultimately holly (ˈhɒlɪ), which survives dialectally. But, by the influence of the adj. hǭl whole, a type with a long root-vowel was differentiated, hǭlliche; this type, with ll retained or with simplification to l (which appears to have taken place as early as the 14th cent.), is represented by the modern pronunciations (ˈhəʊllɪ) and (ˈhəʊlɪ). The current spelling wholly descends from the ME. holliche, and has ultimately prevailed over the once common wholely and wholy, which would more normally denote the resultant standard pronunciations. (For the simplification of ll to l cf. early forms of foully, fuli, fouly, fowlye, and solely, sooly, soly.)]
In all senses formerly sometimes pleonastically joined with all, full, or fully: cf. whole A. 7.
1. As a whole, in its entirety, in full, throughout, all of it; † formerly also (in ref. to a pl. or collect. n.), all of them, all together, in a body. Now rare.
| a 1300 [see halely]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1737 Al holyke [v.r. All holy] com þer flote In Dertemuthe. Ibid. 14357 Þre ȝer holy was he kyng. 1338 ― Chron. (1810) 34 Alle þe regne holy was þat tyme in his hand. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 25 Abraham..seigh holy [v.r. hoolly] þe Trinite, Thre persones in parcelles departable fro other. 1395 E.E. Wills (1882) 8 To parfourne holelich and trewlich this..testament. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3368 They heldede to hir heste alle holly at ones. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxv. 103 To restore all þinges, not only holy, but also abundantly & ouerhepid. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 18 §1 As yf all the.. purporte of the same Commission ware in this present acte holly and particularly rehersed. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lv. §7 That infinite word..could not in part but must needes be wholie incarnate. 1611 Bible Lev. vi. 23 Euery meat offering for the Priest shal be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten. 1681 J. Flavel Meth. Grace xxxi. 536 Non omnis moriar, I shall not wholly die; there is a life I live, which death cannot touch. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 158 ¶4, I would have a Spectator wholly writ upon Good-breeding. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet let. xi, He..took off the brandy wholely at twa draughts. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. III. iv. vii. §3 A man who can see truth at all, sees it wholly, and neither desires nor dares to mutilate it. 1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow xii. 327 Then, and then only..could he act wholely, without cynicism and unreality. |
2. a. Completely, entirely, to the full extent (so that there is no deficiency); altogether, totally, thoroughly, quite.
| [a 1300, etc.: see halely. c 1315, 1340: see yholliche.] a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 56 Ant ȝif ani his ipult out of suuche entre, sal he recoueren his seisine of him pleinliche ant holliche ase he þe oþere les? 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 104 Þat my hous may holly by halkes by fylled. c 1350 Will. Palerne 495 Nis he holly at my hest in hard & in nesche. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 4 Sche..dede al holi what he wolde. c 1400 tr. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh. 105 Y desire welfare, helth, strynght and goodnesse, all holely to come to vche man. c 1440 York Myst. viii. 22 Þai shall be..for-done hoyly, hyde and hewe. 1550 Crowley Last Trumpet 551 Do thy selfe wholly addres To walke in thy vocation. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 270 The Archers of England shot so wholy together, that the Frenche men were faine to geue place. 1600 W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 355 Amor & dilectio (both loue in English) were the words most, & all wholy in request. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. ii. ii. 10 Sleepe hath ceiz'd me wholly. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 104 Mr. Bradford makes wholy for our present Tenet. a 1708 Beveridge Thes. Theol. (1711) I. 8 As he [sc. God] is not divided..in Himself, so neither let him be in your Affections; but love Him wholly, and wholly Him. 1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne i. 5 We were wholly at a loss what to do. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 358 The great majority of the houses..have..been wholly, or in great part, rebuilt. 1918 Cornhill Mag. June 636 His words..were wholly admirable and true. |
b. Entirely, so as to exclude everything else; hence practically equivalent to ‘exclusively, solely, only, without exception’.
| c 1425 Cast. Persev. 598 in Macro Plays 95 Goddys seruyse þou must forsake, & holy to þe werld þee take. 1551 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xxii. 24–30 Neither shall he take the laude and praise vnto himselfe, but referre the same entierly and whollye vnto God. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 47 Inhabited wholelye by Welshmen. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 180 The Instruction of the people, dependeth wholly, on the right teaching of Youth. a 1708 [see 2]. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 67 They shall give up themselves wholy hereto without entangling themselves with the World. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xvii, My ear was wholly intent on analyzing the mingled sounds. 1859 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 441 A creature wholly given to brawls and wine. |
3. Comb.: wholly-owned a., applied to a company all of whose shares are owned by another company.
| 1964 Financial Times 11 Feb. 12/1 The directors..have decided to give the holders of Ordinary shares the opportunity of acquiring an interest in the wholly-owned subsidiary. 1972 Accountant 21 Sept. 360/1 The UK company is a subsidiary—although not wholly-owned. 1976 Scotsman 20 Nov. 3/2 The plan is recommended by the boards of all the companies, who will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of the new Malaysian group. |