foully, adv.
(ˈfaʊllɪ)
[f. foul a. + -ly2; in OE. f{uacu}ll{iacu}ce.]
In a foul manner.
1. Fetidly, noisomely, filthily, disgustingly.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 6353 Þe water was al suete alson, Þe water þat sua fuli stanc. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxi. 96 It es better þai be eten with fewles..þan foully to be eten in þe erthe with wormes. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 77 Though she were sweete, nowe fowly doth she stinke. 1642 Quarles Feast for W. ix. ix. 36 Their service is unsweet and foully taint. |
| fig. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece iii. iv. (1715) 48 There is scarce any Passage..which does not..foully disgust their curious..Palates. |
2. Hideously; with gross disfigurement.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. iii. 8 Fowlyly hym demenbryd þai. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7809 It was sa fouly sa defuyled. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. i. iii, We calle him goose, and disarde doulte, and fowlye fatted nowle. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1035/1 Houses..burned, and fowlie defaced with fire. 1592 W. Wyrley Armorie, Ld. Chandos 65 Fairest truth I fouliest masked. 1632 Sanderson 12 Serm. 466 Foulely defaced with Sinne. 1728 Swift Answer 261 Your numerous virtues foully stain'd. |
3. Abominably, disgracefully, shamefully; with revolting wickedness, cruelty, or treachery.
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 11 Meidenhad is te blosme þat beo ha eanes fulliche forcoruen, ne spruteð ha neauer eft. c 1340 Cursor M. 16461 (Trin.) Iudas..bihelde & seȝe how foulely þei wiþ him dalt. c 1430 Hymns Virg. (1867) 127 So betyn, so woundyd, Entretyd so fuly. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1233/2 His goods by the commons fowlie despoiled. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 72 Al trust fowlye breaking. 1605 Camden Rem. 212 Forsooth, yee doe fowly to smite a King annoynted. 1666 Bunyan Grace Abound. ¶159, I had not..transgressed so foully as he. 1714 Gay What d'ye call it? ii. iii, Filbert still is true; I foully wrong'd him. 1859 Tennyson Enid 459 From mine own earldom foully ousted me. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am iii, He was foully murdered one October evening. |
b. Impurely, obscenely.
| a 1050 Liber Scintill. xxviii. (1889) 106 Wel oft soðlice ᵹyfernyss & ᵹenihtsumnyss wines fullice [turpiter] on galnysse tolætt. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 174 Dost thou desire her fowly, for those things That make her good? 1864 Neale Seaton. Poems 265 Still Madlier the revel, foullier went the jest. |
4. With gross contumely, insultingly. Now only with strong mixture of sense 3, with reference to slander or coarse language.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi. 13, I am slane of thaim as fouly as watere is helt. c 1340 Cursor M. 24085 (Fairf.) Fouli þai on him spitte. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 96 Thenne gan faith foully þe false Iewes to despisen. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 129 The things wherein Gods name is fowly abused. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 154 For whose death we..Liue scandaliz'd, and fouly spoken of. a 1627 Hayward Edw. VI (1630) 96 The other two [letters] did fully and fowly set forth his obstinacie. 1639 Fuller Holy War iii. xxx. (1647) 163 The Pope hearing thereof, belibelled him more fouly than ever before. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 234 The gentlemen who had been so foully slandered. |
† 5. Badly, grievously.
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 42 Bot ever was Eilred fouly begiled. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 156 Quha vist euir men sa fouly fall As vs, gif that we thusgat leif? 1539 Tonstall Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 81 Surely they be fowelye deceyued. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 360 He erred fowly in the..vnderstanding thereof. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 1217 Hee fell sicke of the small poxe, wherewith hee..was..foulely tormented. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. v. §1 Pope Formosus was foully offended. [1881 R. Buchanan God and Man ii. vi, An innocent man foully taxed and troubled.] |