properly, adv.
(ˈprɒpəlɪ)
[f. proper a. + -ly2.]
In a proper manner (in senses of the adj.).
1. a. In its own nature, in itself, intrinsically, essentially; in one's own person, for oneself; as one's own, as private property, privately. Now rare or Obs.
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 49 Þei han grete housis proprid to hem self..and myche hid tresour..; and þis tresour is kept proprely to idel men or fendis. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 5 b, To goe vpright and to speake, are properly to all menne generally. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. ii. 90 My Affaires Are Seruanted to others: Though I owe My Reuenge properly, my remission lies In Volcean brests. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 170 The whole world or heaven..is moved properly by soul. |
b. Particularly, distinctively, specially.
| 1340 Ayenb. 34 And specialliche and propreliche of the rote of auarice guoþ out manye smale roten, þet byeþ wel greate dyadliche zennes. 1486 Bk. St. Albans D ij, That terme draw is propurli assigned to that hawke that will slee a Roke or a Crow or a Reuyn. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 19 A certane schort..grase, quhairin scheip properlie delytes. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. viii. §5. 130 A subject hath nothing properly his owne against the will of the Supreme Authority. 1823 Scott Peveril xxv, One would think mischief was so properly thy element that to thee it was indifferent whether friend or foe was the sufferer. |
† c. By itself or themselves; severally. Obs.
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 127 Thus ben the Signes propreli Divided. ? a 1500 Wycket (1828) p. xiii, A man maye take a glasse, and breake the glasse into many peces, and in euery pece properly thou mayste se thy face. |
2. In the proper or strict sense; strictly speaking; † literally, not figuratively (obs.); in accordance with fact; strictly accurately, correctly, exactly.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xiv. 1 Tabernakile propirly is þe mansyon of feghtand men. c 1340 ― Prose Tr. 33 Þis desire es noghte propirly lufe, bot it es a begynnynge, for lufe propirly es a full cuppillynge of þe lufande and þe lufed to-gedyre. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 150 Off Paradys can I noȝt speke properly, for I hafe noȝt bene þare. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 24 If we wil properly and exactly speake, accordyng to the difinition of the word. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. i. 8 He keepes me rustically at home, or (to speak more properly) staies me heere at home vnkept. 1674 Allen Danger Enthus. 128 Carefully avoiding to take words properly, which are spoken metaphorically. 1790 Paley Horæ Paul. Rom. ii. 17 Greece properly so called, that is, as distinguished from Macedonia. 1850 M{supc}Cosh Div. Govt. i. iii. (1874) 67 Virtue is not virtue, properly speaking, when it is constrained. |
3. Fittingly, suitably, appropriately; as it ought to be, or as one ought to do; rightly, correctly, duly, well; in accordance with social ethics or good manners, becomingly, with propriety.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 98 Lokeð nu, hu propreliche þe lefdi in Canticis,..lereð ou, bi hire sawe, hu ȝe schulen siggen, ‘En dilectus meus’. 1340 Ayenb. 25 Huanne he..deþ his guodes naȝt uor god properliche, ac uor þe wordle. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xi. (Symon & Judas) 69 He send til hyme þane a paynteore..To paynt his fygur propirly. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxx. 134 In þat land er many papeiais..and þai speke of þaire awen kynde als properly as a man. a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. Wks. (1829) 99 Mark..how properly that substantial reason, wherewith they go about to establish purgatory, concludeth. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 372 Those famous sheep called Pacos which serve as properly for carriage as horses. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. viii. (1869) I. 82 Law can never regulate them [wages] properly. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. III. 73 He took leave affectionately and yet properly. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxi, Take the horse back, and clean him properly. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. vi. xxxvii. (1879) 219 If the object-glass does not perform its part properly. Mod. Why don't you behave properly? |
4. In a goodly fashion, excellently, admirably; with goodly appearance, finely, handsomely; well. Now arch. or vulgar.
| a 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. App. iv. 621 Þe Orisoun..of seynt Ambrose Þat he properly in prose Made. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxiii. 107 Made of precious stanes so properly and so curiousely þat it semez as it ware a vyne growand. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 62 ‘Apparaile þe propirli’ quod Pride. 1519 Interl. Four Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 47, I can prank it properly. 1552 Huloet, Properly or trymme, concinne, dextre. 1732 Earl of Oxford in Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 159, I never saw hills so properly and so finely clothed. 1740–87 Lett. Miss Talbot, &c. (1808) 19 A mean dressed man got up into a tree, and from thence harangued them very properly. |
5. Of degree: Thoroughly, completely, perfectly; utterly, entirely, quite; exceedingly, very. (Now slang or colloq.)
| a 1400–50 Alexander 3283 (Dubl. MS.) Þus prosperite and pride propyrly me blyndyd. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 57 For certayne I thoughte properly it had ben you. 1664 Pepys Diary 24 June, Such variety of pictures, and other things of value and rarity, that I was properly confounded. Ibid. 14 July, All which, I did assure my Lord, was most properly false, and nothing like it true. 1816 Scott Let. to T. Scott 29 May in Lockhart, Economy is the order of the day, and I can assure you they are shaving properly close. 1895 Morris in Mackail Life (1899) II. 309 They beat us properly..we polled about half what they did. 1896 Daily News 18 Mar. 3/6 The accused said he got ‘properly drunk’. |
6. Math. So as to form a proper subset or a proper subgroup (see proper a. 6 c).
| 1965 E. Schenkman Group Theory iv. 125 If Π is a set of primes, a Sylow Π-subgroup of a group G is a Π-subgroup of G not properly contained in any Π-subgroup of G. 1968 E. T. Copson Metric Spaces i. 6 The set A is..properly contained in B if every member of A belongs to B and there is at least one member of B which does not belong to A. 1971 E. C. Dade in Powell & Higman Finite Simple Groups viii. 326 The group H..is properly contained in G. |