clearly, adv.
(ˈklɪəlɪ)
[f. clear + -ly2.]
In a clear manner.
† 1. Brightly; luminously; transparently. Obs. (exc. as blended with 2).
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 4422 Into a choys chaumber þe clerli was peinted. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 100 The moyn wes schynand rycht cleirly. 1535 Fisher Wks. 381 They bee the brighter glasses and more cleerly receyue this loue. 1655 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 17, I have discover'd so many fresh Graces in her, and those shine so clearly. a 1656 Bp. Hall Invis. World i. §2 The spiritual agility and clearly-lightsome nature of that whereby they are enlived. |
2. With optical distinctness; without obscurity; opposed to dimly.
| c 1300 St. Brandan 461 Hi seȝe in the see as clerliche as hi scholde alonde. 1340 Ayenb. 38 Þanne we him ssolle ysy face to face clyerlyche. 1382 Wyclif Mark viii. 25 He is restorid so that he syȝ clerely alle thingis. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 243/3 The more he wente..the more clerlyer he sawe. 1820 Keats Isabel xlvi, Clearly she saw..Pale limbs at bottom of a crystal well. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §11. 79 The top of the mountain rose clearly above us. |
3. Of mental vision: With undimmed perception, with full and complete understanding; distinctly.
| c 1400 Beryn 3867 They perseyvid clerelich in the plee thurh out hir ffrendis had the worse side. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. ii. (1483) 59 That thou knowe clerely how that this drye tree was restablysshed. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 84 Not clearly discerning the almost obliterated constitution of your ancestors. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims Wks. (Bohn) III. 153 There is no choice of words for him who clearly sees the truth. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola (1880) I. ii. xxxii. 390 He had begun to see clearly that he could not persuade her into assent. 1884 Gladstone in Standard 29 Feb. 2/5, I hope that will be clearly understood. |
4. With clearness and distinctness of expression or exposition; plainly.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 18851 Clerli spak he þat he wald. 1340 Ayenb. 174 He ssel zigge his zennes clyerliche and nakedliche. 1388 Wyclif Isa. Prol., The sacramens of ther beleeue to shewe ful clerly to the hethene. a 1535 More On the Passion Wks. 1322/1 For to declare the more clearelye, that the cause of his desyre, was, etc. 1611 Bible Job xxxiii. 3 My lippes shall vtter knowledge clearely. 1647 Cowley Mistr., Her Unbelief iii. (1669) 71 Nor does the Cause in thy Face clearlier shine, Than the Effect appears in mine. 1884 tr. Lotze's Metaph. 356 To put the matter shortly and clearly. |
5. Manifestly; evidently.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 287 But Britaine was clerely excepted. 1595 Shakes. John iii. iv. 122 In this which he accounts so clearely wonne. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxv. 218 There be many other places that clearly prove the same. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 191 ¶14 They, who have been so clearly detected in ignorance or imposture. 1875 Jevons Money (1878) 20 A statement clearly implying that skins were taken as the representative of value. |
b. Used parenthetically, = .., it is clear,..; the truth or correctness of the assertion being the thing that is clear.
| 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. App. 744 This version is clearly wrong. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 187 He was clearly not aware of the importance of the principle. 1879 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. ii. §67 The animal has clearly no power over them. |
6. With distinctness of sound; audibly.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. xiv. 19 Greet noyse is out sprongen..and it wexe litilmele, and cleerliker it sownyde. c 1450 Merlin xiv. 207 That the sownde was herde in to the Citee clerly. 1721 Lond. Gaz. No. 6002/3 Does not pronounce his Words clearly. |
† 7. Honestly; straightforwardly, frankly. Obs.
| 1389 in Eng. Gilds. (1870) 4 So þ{supt} þe wardeins mowe here acompt ȝeld clerelich. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) T vij b, I thanke the goddes immortall, that haue suffred me to lyue so clerely. 1603 Drayton Odes ii. 13 Thy ancient Vigils yeerely I have observed cleerely. a 1626 Bacon Max. & Uses Com. Law 28 If an heire..doe not deale clearely with the court when he is sued, that is, if he come not in immediately. a 1694 Tillotson (J.), Deal clearly and impartially with yourselves. |
† 8. Thoroughly; completely; unreservedly; entirely; = clean. Obs.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B xviii. 389 Thei shul be clensed clereliche & wasshen of her synnes In my prisoun purgatorie. c 1440 Generydes 1063 The kyng hym gaue clerly an Erlys lande. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 1 Lette a man make a castell towre or any maner of newe buyldinges and finysshe it clerely. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 685 Clerely to extinguish the house of Yorke. 1633 T. James Voy. 105 When the snow was cleerliest gone off the ground. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. 24 The bones were not so clearly pickt, but some coals were found amongst them. 1816 Philip Quarll 67 They went clearly away. |
† 9. Without deduction, net,; = clear 16. Obs.
| 1462 J. Paston in Lett. 461 II. 114 Havyng a certeyn pension for her sustentacion payid clerly in money without any Charge. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 22 b, Landes to the value of xls. clerely aboue all charges. 1638 Sir R. Cotton Abstr. Rec. Tower 25 By which his Majesty should gaine ten hundred thousand pound cleerely. |
† 10. Without entanglement or embarrassment; = clear 18. Obs.
| 1607–12 Bacon Ess. Despatch (Arb.) 248 He that doth not devide, will never enter well into businesse; and he that devideth to much, will never come out of it clearelye. 1663 Charleton Chorea Gigant. 12 Over which the other leaped cleerly, without so much as ever touching it. |