▪ I. † ˈsweetly, a. Obs.
Also 4 suetli, -ly, 6 swe(e)tely.
[f. sweet a. + -ly1. Cf. MDu. soetelijc (Du. zoetelijk), MHG. sueȥlich (G. süsslich); also OE. swótlic.]
Sweet.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 17819 Þai hailsed þaim with suetli suar. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 52 A suetly suyre heo hath to holde. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) II. 2 Fayne maye thy frendes be in fere, To see thy sweetlye [v.r. frely] face. 1530 Palsgr. 842/2 Swetely of savoure, souef. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Capitall de Buz 156 By sweetely Lord, that straied sinners sought. 1601 Holland Pliny xxxvi. v. II. 565 Agoracritus of Paros, whome hee loved also for his sweetly youth. |
▪ II. sweetly, adv.
(ˈswiːtlɪ)
Forms: see sweet a. and -ly2.
[Cf. MLG. sôt(e)lîken, MDu. soetelîke, MHG. sueȥlîche; also ME. swoteliche, sootly.]
In a sweet manner; with sweetness.
1. With a sweet taste or smell.
| [c 900: see 3.] 1530 Palsgr. 842/2 Swetely of taste, doucement. a 1547 Surrey Eccles. v. 13 Humble vowes fullfilld by grace right swetly smoke. c 1565 Sparke Hawkins' 2nd Voy. in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 515 They [sc. turtle's eggs] did eat very sweetly. 1611 Bible Song Sol. vii. 9 Like the best wine..that goeth downe sweetely. 1850 Neale Med. Hymns (1867) 121 Now the myrrh of Cyprus groweth, Widelier spreadeth, sweetlier bloweth. |
2. With a sweet sound or voice.
| 1340 Ayenb. 61 Nykeren þet..zuo zuetelich zingeþ þet hi makeþ slepe þe ssipman. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 13/2 Þe pipe singeþ swetelich while þe fouler disseyueþ þe bridde. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxvii. 45 Madinis ȝing..Playand on timberallis, and syngand rycht sweitlie. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iii. Furies 56 An Instrument..Whose symphony resounded sweetly-shrill The Almightie's praise. 1629–30 Milton Circumcision 4 Ye flaming Powers.., That erst with Musick,..So sweetly sung your Joy. 1781 Cowper Retirem. 568 Streams tinkle sweetly in poetic chime. a 1839 Praed Lidian's Love xx, She..sang as sweetly as a caged canary. |
3. So as to be pleasing to the mind or the feelings; pleasurably; comfortably.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xxiii. Concl. (1890) 486 Swetlice drincan þa word þines wisdomes. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1329 Nobul leches..þat seide he schuld be sauf & sweteliche heled. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. xii. 103 Þis meruellus heet, þe qwhilk þe mynd swetelyest gladyns. 1533 Frith Answ. More (1548) H viij, Yf a man be faythfull, the Spiryte of God worketh in hys harte very swetelye at hys communion. 1535 Coverdale Prov. iii. 24 Thou shalt not be afrayed, but shalt take thy rest & slepe swetely. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 226 Th' Idea of her life shal sweetly creepe Into his study of imagination. 1606 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. ii. Magnificence 1215 Sweetly-rapt in sacred Extasie. 1640 Quarles Enchirid. ii. xxvii, If thou labour in a painefull calling..thou shalt be..sweetlier satisfied at the time of death. 1784 Cowper Task i. 89 The nurse sleeps sweetly, hir'd to watch the sick, Whom snoring she disturbs. 1803 Visct. Strangford Camoens, Sonn. vii. (1810) 93 The sweetly sad remembrances of yore! 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre viii, Nor was that problem solved to my satisfaction ere I fell sweetly asleep. |
b. ironically, esp. with pay, cost.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 243/2 It is sure, that this his high place will cost him sweetely. 1585 C. Fetherstone tr. Calvin on Acts xxii. 28 How can it be that thou beeing some base fellowe of the countrie of the Cilicians, shouldest obtayne this honour, for which I paid sweetly? a 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 311 It cost Dauid sweetly for passing ouer the murder of Amnon, done by his sonne Absolom. 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 514/1 Having, as may be supposed, paid sweetly for them, and having fitted up house, nests and roosts, with the greatest care. 1882 Stevenson New Arab. Nts. (1884) 112 Everything in this world has to be paid for, and some things sweetly. |
4. So as to be pleasing to the sight or the æsthetic sense; delightfully, charmingly.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 55 Sithence you haue written thereof in a certaine treatise very sweetly and pleasantly. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 45 One market-place sweetly shaded with trees. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 88 The Eye-brows ought to be..sweetly arched. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 8 May 1666, Went to visite my Co. Hales at a sweetly-water'd place at Chilston. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. viii, The two lovers so sweetly described by Mr. Gay, who were struck dead in each other's arms. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. iii. iv, Vergniaud denounces and deplores; in sweetly turned periods. 1879 S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. xxiv. 490 The lights and shadows lie sweetly on the hillsides at night and morning. |
b. as a technical term of Art.
| 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. 69 Had he perform'd his heightnings with more tendernesse, and come sweetly off with the extremities of his hatchings. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 489 When the ripe colours soften and unite, And sweetly melt into just shade and light. |
c. with emotional or sentimental colouring.
| 1840 Thackeray Barber Cox Aug., ‘How sweetly the dear Baron rides,’ said my wife, who was ogling at him. 1907 P. Dare From School to Stage ii. 21 That sweetly pretty play, ‘Ib and Little Christina.’ |
d. In vaguer sense: In a desirable or satisfactory way; favourably; † delicately; now esp. in reference to the working of machinery: Smoothly, easily.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. i. 6 A Christall stone..hauing a good foyle sweetlie conueyed within the concaue superficies thereof. 1651 French Distill. vi. 178 In these colder countreys they..never yeeld any fruit,..but if at any time nature be wittily and sweetly helped, then Art can perfect what nature could not. 1825 Edin. Rev. XLIII. 14 Like..the jerks of a machine not working sweetly. 1876 W. Cudworth Round abt. Bradford 120 The engines..although thirty years old..do their work ‘sweetly’. |
5. With graciousness of action or treatment; with kindly disposition or intent; graciously.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 430 Lihtliche & sweteliche uorȝiueð ham hore gultes. a 1300 Cursor M. 14884 (Cott.) Suetli he wald þam drau him to. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 221 Ful swetely herde he confession, And plesaunt was his absolucion. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 51 Whan he had herd her answers and had seen how swetly she had taken hit. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W.) i. iii, That it wolde please y⊇ swetely to beholde hym or her thy seruaunt. 1589 R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (title-p.), Sweetly indevvring with his blunt persuasions to botch vp a Reconciliation. 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 48 The sentence in the Star Chamber, the which he confesseth justly imposed and swetely. 1673 S. C. Art of Complaisance 15 We must represent things which appear difficult and greivous by insinuating them sweetly into the spirit of those to whom we speak. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xli, She used to try so sweetly to oblige him. |
6. With pleasantness of manner or address; in sweet terms; hence, affectionately, lovingly.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 264 In eueriche time hwon ȝe neode habbeð, scheaweð so sweteliche to his swete earen. a 1300 K. Horn 404 (Camb.) On knes he him sette, And sweteliche hure grette. 13.. Cursor M. 15651 (Gött.) Ful suetli to þaim he spack, ‘breþer, quat nu do ȝe?’ c 1440 Jacob's Well 267 Be fayr of speche, answere swetely! a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxv. 267 He..toke leue of hym, & swetely kyssyd hym. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. v. 111 O trespasse sweetly vrg'd. 1602 tr. Guarini's Pastor Fido ii. i. E j b, Let's kisse and striue Who can kisse sweetliest among our selues. 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Odes i. xxii. 24 The nymph, who sweetly speaks, and sweetly smiles. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xx, The child looked perplexed and sorrowful, but said sweetly—‘Poor Topsy, why need you steal?’ 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. xlv. 14 He was disappointed..although she had spoken to him so sweetly. |
7. Qualifying pples. used adj., often hyphened (in any of the preceding senses), as sweetly-breathing, sweetly-budding, sweetly-fenced, sweetly-smelling, sweetly-swelling, sweetly-written; occas. with adjs., as sweetly-pensive, sweetly-wise; also less correctly used for ‘sweet’ in parasynthetic combination, as sweetly-scented, sweetly-tasted, sweetly-toned.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1912) 219 Of pretious pearle the double rowe, The second sweetly-fenced warde, Her heav'nly⁓dewed tongue to garde. Ibid. iii. 447 Her roundy sweetly swelling lippes. 1641 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 229 A most noble and sweetly disposed lady. 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Sec. Poem 100 Sweetly-shining queen of night. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 37 In a sweetly-breathing accent..scarcely audible. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 475 Hymns, meditations, and sweetly-written books. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xviii, Spices or sweetly-burning woods. 1846 H. G. Robinson Odes of Horace ii. xii, Thy mistress Lycimnia's sweetly-ton'd voice. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. iii. 120 She thanked with sweetly-wise and conscious tongue. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 18 The sweetly-scented birch. |