▪ I. † ˈreally, adv.1 Obs.
Forms: 4 reali, real(l)ich(e, realych, 4–6 real(l)y, 6 Sc. reallie.
[f. real a.1 + -ly2. Cf. rially.]
Royally.
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 1426 Þe messageres riȝt realy were arayde, for soþe. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 171 He hadde i-reigned nobliche and realliche þritty ȝere. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 1569 Ful really thai rade about..To justing and to turnament. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 36/1 Realy wrought with sterres lyke yf it were ye heuen. a 1578 Lindesay in Pitscottie Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 93 He..callit [him] to the supper and bankitit him werie reallie. |
▪ II. really, adv.2
(ˈriːəlɪ)
Also 5 rialliche, 6 Sc. realie, 6–7 reallie.
[f. real a.2 + -ly2.]
1. a. In a real manner; in reality; in point of, or as a matter of, fact; actually.
In later use commonly placed immediately in front of the word or phrase on which emphasis is laid.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lxxxvii. (1869) 49 With inne this bred al the souereyn good is put;..bodiliche and rialliche, presentliche and verreyliche. 1528–37 Lett. Suppress. Monast. (Camden) 161 My dysfortune hathe byn..not only with yntellectyon to have thought yt, but exteryally and really I have fulfyllyd the same. 1563 Foxe A. & M. 172/1 He held this opinion, that it was not the body of Christe really, the whiche was sacramentally vsed in the church. 1639 Bury Wills (Camden) 180, I will that twenty pounds..shalbe paid to the said ffeoffees when they shall really begin the said worke. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. ii. §16 He imagined that which is said to be above as to us, was really the upper part of the world. 1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus' Mor. xxxvii, To have right Notions of the Deities; As that such Beings really are. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 315 ¶9 The Account of such things as have really happened. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 21 Frequented only by such as really went for relief. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne, etc. 287 The popular prophets of this country were all really or affectedly mad. 1820 Shelley Witch Atl. lxxiii, How the God Apis really was a bull, And nothing more. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 139 It soon appeared that the government was really directed, not at Dublin, but in London. 1886 Ld. Esher in Law Rep. 32 Chanc. Div. 26, I do not think that any of the cases that were cited did really prove that assertion. |
b. Used to emphasize the truth or correctness of an epithet or statement; hence = positively, indeed.
| a 1610 Healey Cebes (1636) 140 Hee..shall be really blessed, and lift up beyond the pitch of misery. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 70 The Janizaries..seem to be sacred; and really I know no Order of Militia in the World, that is so much respected. 1722 De Foe Hist. Plague (1754) 5 This last Bill was really frightful. 1772 Test Filial Duty II. 180 He was really very useful, perfectly commode. 1824 Hood Whims & Oddities, May-day (1857) 308 A really pretty maiden, and worthy of the honour. 1834 R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 378, I really think this illness is being a good thing for me. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 207 It is really a pity that this is not true. |
c. Coupled with truly. In adj. phr. really truly chiefly N. Amer. Children's speech, authentic, genuine.
| 1742 Fielding J. Andrews ii. xiii, The word really and truly signifies no more at this day. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch xx. 302 This was really and truly a terrible business. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 435 The king is really and truly a Catholic. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. II. xv. 195 ‘Have you money for your lodgings?’ ‘Yes sir’, she says, ‘really and truly’. |
| 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables xi. 114 They all had puffed sleeves..it was awfully hard there among the others who had really truly puffs. 1909 M. Diver Candles in Wind xxxiii. 348 Such a really truly knight! 1911 G. S. Porter Harvester xvi. 356 There are fairies! Really truly ones! They have found the remainder of the willow dishes. 1911 T. Dreiser Jennie Gerhardt 249 She thinks you are her really truly uncle. 1942 Post (Morgantown, W. Va.) 2 May 5/7 The [family] have one of the prize sites with a really, truly beach. |
2. Used without syntactical construction: a. As a term of asseveration or protest.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 132 Is't not possible to understand in another tongue? You will do't, sir, really. 1728 Gay Begg. Op. iii. viii, But really, Mistress Lucy [etc.]. 1819 Keats Let. 22 Sept., How fine the air..Really, without joking, chaste weather. 1841 De Quincey Homer Wks. 1853 VI. 338 Really no: a dyspeptic demigod it makes one dyspeptic to think of! 1875 Jowett Plate (ed. 2) I. 61 Why really, I said, the truth is that I do not know. |
b. Interrogatively.
| c 1815 Sir D. Wilkie in Pinnington Life, etc. (1900) 75 Wilkie looked, smiled, and in the most unconscious manner said, ‘Rea-al-ly!’ 1893 Scribner's Mag. June 787/1 She exclaimed, ‘Really? It is really true?’ |
† 3. Sincerely, honestly, truly. Obs.—1
| 1650 T. B[ayley] Worcester's Apoph. 79, I protest my Lord, I speak, said Redman, really; he is coming. |
† 4. In the usual course of things, naturally.
| 1651 Culpepper Astrol. Judgem. Dis. (1658) 89 Diseases..whether they come really, or by accident, as fractures. |
† 5. Math. Used with reference to an equation having real roots. Obs.
| 1706 W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Math. 128 In every Prepared Equation Really constituted, which has..all its Terms. |
Add: [2.] c. iron. Expressing disbelief.
| 1915 Chesterton Antichrist in Poems 88 Do they read it all in Hansard With a crib to read it with—‘Welsh Tithes: Dr. Clifford Answered.’ Really, Smith? 1979 Washington Post 29 May b1/2 Really... Like somebody says ‘War is hell,’ or ‘You can't fight city hall,’ and you say ‘really’. Very flat, fatalistic, passive. Really. |