grievously, adv.
(ˈgriːvəslɪ)
[f. grievous a. + -ly2.]
1. In such a way as to be oppressive, painful, or hurtful to the affairs, person, or feelings of any one; to an oppressive or injurious extent. (Chiefly used with words implying hurt, harm, wrong, etc., and hence tending to become merely intensive; cf. 2.)
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6736 Ne Lazare asked nat greuuslyke, But a fewe crummes for to pyke. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4537 Þan sal he shew grete parsecucion And grevusly þam tourment. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 431 Al ȝif he semeþ grevousliche unkynde for þe tyme. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶773 This cursed synne anoyeth greuousliche hem that it haunten. 1472 Presentm. Juries in Surtees Misc. (1888) 22 Grefesly hurt hem of parell of his dethe. 1483 Act. 1 Rich. III, c. 6 §1 Much people coming to the said Fairs be grievously vexed and troubled by feigned Actions. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 36 Preamble, Stanhop..lay in wayte uppon the seid sir William and hym grevously wouneded and maymed. 1509 Fisher Funeral Serm. C'tess Richmond Wks. (1876) 300 The moost paynful crampes soo greuously vexynge her. 1611 Bible Matt. viii. 6 My seruant lieth at home sicke of the palsie, grieuously tormented. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 21 The Inhabitants..were so grievously visited with the plague. 1751 Jortin Serm. (1771) V. ii. 30 To punish the offender and to afflict him more grievously. 1870 Bryant Iliad II. xv. 75 He had seen the Greeks Pressed grievously beside their fleet. |
† b. Heavily; with a heavy penalty, at a heavy or high rate; for a large sum. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter i. 6 Þai sall greuoslyere be dampned þan hethen men. a 1500 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 211 Yf any man wer taken and conuicte of takyng of veneri he shalbe greuously redemed if he haue wherof he may be redeemed. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. lx. 361 Now then we shall not faile to be y⊇ grieuouslyer condemned if we forget our God. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iii. ii. 85 The Noble Brutus Hath told you Cæsar was Ambitious: If it were so it was a greeuous Fault, And greeuously hath Cæsar answer'd it. 1670 Blount Law Dict. s.v. Attaint, He shall be imprisoned and grievously ransomed at the Kings Will. |
2. In a great or serious degree; heavily, deeply, strongly, exceedingly, etc. (In early, and occas. in mod. use, with more or less suggestion of the etymological sense.)
| 1340 Ayenb. 47 Hy zeneȝeþ wel greuousliche. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 349 He ne hath nat doon so grevously a-mis. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 He had..sworne so greuously þat he schuld bring it to swilke a state þat wymmen schuld mow wade ouer and noȝt wete þaire kneesse. c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 25 And hym offendyth no thyng more greuously than whan man..ȝeueþ worshep of godhed to creatures vnresonable. 1531 Tindale Exp. John (1537) 81 The Jewes..synned greueouslyer agaynst God. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 2 He behind them stayd, Maulgre his host, who grudged grievously To house a guest that would be needes obayd. 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 134, I do suspect thee very greeuously. 1704 Swift T. Tub Ded., Wks. 1760 I. 3, I grievously suspected a cheat. 1794 Sir W. Jones Instit. Hindu Law ii. §226 A spiritual and a natural father..are not to be treated with disrespect..though the student be grievously provoked. 1873 Ruskin Arrows Chace (1880) II. 100, [I] shall be grievously busy tomorrow. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent Man 56 The sociologist has grievously complained of late that he could get but little help from science. |
3. In a deplorable manner, ‘sadly’, ‘wofully’.
| 1742 Warburton Wks. (1811) XI. 197 But our Advocate, now grievously bemired, yet flounders on. 1827 Pollok Course T. iv, The winds of heaven Display his nakedness to passers by, And grievously burlesque the human form. 1847–8 H. Miller First Impr. xviii. (1857) 321 Melancholy banks of mud, here and there overtopped by thickets of grievously befouled sedges. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 477 How grievously was I disappointed! 1883 Sir T. Martin Ld. Lyndhurst v. 126 The Government erred grievously in doing little or nothing to redress these abuses. |
† 4. With expression of grief; bitterly, piteously, sorrowfully. Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 120 Þei syke greuousleche, & a scharpe feuere falliþ. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. i. 53 What are you heere, that cry so greeuously? |
† 5. to take grievously: (a) to be incensed or angered at; (b) to be distressed or grieved at. (Cf. take in grief, in grievance.) Obs.
| a 1533 Frith Bk. agst. Rastell (1829) 211 More and Rochester..took the matter so grievously, that they could never be at quiet in their stomachs, until they had drunken his blood. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark v. 35–43 The common sorte are wounte to take the death of young folkes much greuouslyer then of olde. 1582 Earl of Shrewsbury in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 61 My wyffe taketh my doughter Lennoux deathe so grevouslie that she neither dothe nor can thincke of any thinge but of lamentinge. |