strangely, adv.
(ˈstreɪn(d)ʒlɪ)
[f. strange a. + -ly2.]
† 1. In a foreign or outlandish manner. rare—0.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 367/2 Strawngely, extranee, barbare, peregrine. |
† 2. In an unfriendly or unfavourable manner; with cold or distant bearing. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 955 And straungely she spak and seyde þus. 1461 Paston Lett. II. 59, I have spoken with hem of that matre..and I have found the[m] too straunchely disposed. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. V 23 b, When the protector had harde the proposicion, he loked very strangely therat. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 278 b, He answered somwhat straungly [L. paulo respondet alienius]. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xlix. 5 When thou shalt strangely passe, And scarcely greete me with that sunne thine eye. Ibid. cx. 6, I haue lookt on truth Asconce and strangely. a 1707 Patrick Autobiogr. (1839) 25 Look not strangely upon him because he differs from thee in some opinions. |
† 3. In a way that is unusual or exceptional; in an unusual sense. Obs. (Merged in 5.)
| 1533 More Confut. Barnes Wks. 807/1 Heretikes, whiche bee straungers from the housholde of Christes catholike church, and whiche doe strangely rehearse and strangely declare Christes catholyke scrypture, agaynste the knowen catholike doctrine. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 122 b, If you take it not so, me thinkes..you take it too strangelie, and too obscurelie. |
† 4. In an uncommon or exceptional degree; very greatly, extremely. Obs. (Merged in 5.)
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. iii. (Skeat) l. 59 The storm so straungely..gan..us assayle. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 7 Thou Hast strangely stood the test. 1618 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1906) 32 Hee was straungely importunate with me to give him leave to goe. 1665 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 243 The Sicknesse is strangely increased. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 395 Camomil,..it strangely cureth Agues. 1705 Hearne Duct. Hist. (ed. 2) I. 155 Civil Prudence..sparkles strangely in his Institution of Cyrus. 1707 Prior Sat. Poets 109 How fine your Plot, how exquisite each Scene! And play'd at Court, would strangely please the Queen. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 122 The Heat of the Sun bak'd them strangely hard. |
5. In a manner so unusual or exceptional as to excite wonder or astonishment; surprisingly, unaccountably, oddly.
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour 64 A gentill woman..come to a fest so straungely atyred and queintly arraied..that all that sawe her come ranne towardes her to wonder. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ii. 18 By strange occasion she did him behold, And much more strangely gan to loue his sight. 1599 Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 85 The which myls be verrie straingly made. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. iii. 40 They vanish'd strangely. a 1652 Brome Queenes Exch. v. i, Osr. Is Offa mad? Keep. O quite besides himself, and talks the strangeliest Of his fathers murder. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 306 ¶8 The Vagaries of Fancy which so strangely misled you. 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. i, This fellow runs strangely in my head. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 13 Men who had never before had a scruple had on a sudden become strangely scrupulous. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §6. 144 Strangely as the two men differed from each other, their aim was the same. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men I. ii. 116 Mankind show themselves strangely forgetful of their chiefest benefactors. |
6. quasi-Comb. (The adv. qualifying a ppl. adj. or adj.; often hyphened when the use is attributive.)
| 1598 Chapman Hero & Leander iii. 183 Most strangely-intellectuall fire. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 150 Strangely visited people All swolne and Vlcerous. 1633 Ford Love's Sacrif. iv. H 2 b, Some strangely-shap'd man-beast. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche ii. clxxv, His strangely-potent Wand's petard. 1777 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 172 So strangely-timed a piece of adulation. 1851 Helps Comp. Solit. xiii. 273 This mass of strangely-mingled materials. |