▪ I. loathly, a.
(ˈləʊðlɪ)
Forms: 1 láðlic, 2–3 loðlic, 3 lad-, lað-, loð(e)liche, 3– 4 lod(e)lich(e, -like, -lych, loþely(ch, 4 lat-, laþ-, loþli, loth(e)-, loþliche, 4–6 lod(e)ly, loth(e)lie, -ly, (5 lathely, loodly, looþeli, lotly), 5–6 layth(e)- liche, -ly, 6 Sc. lathly, laitlie, -ye, 6– loathly. compar. 3 laðluker, superl. 3 lað-, lodlukest, 4 lodlakest. See also laidly.
[OE. láðlic (= OFris. lédl{iacu}k, OS. lêðlîk, OHG. leidlîh, MHG. leidelich, leitlich, ON. leiðilig-r), f. láð loath a. + -lic -ly1.]
Hateful, disgusting, loathsome, repulsive, hideous, horrible. Rare in 17th and 18th cents.; revived in the 19th c. as a literary word.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xiv. (Schipper) 260 Mon laþlice deaþe þone cyning acwealde. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 219 Awende..to loðlice deoflen. a 1200 Moral Ode 279 Þer ligget laðliche fend in stronge raketeie. a 1225 Ancr. R. 66 Ower greste, & ower lodlukeste sunnen. c 1250 Gen & Ex. 3030 So woren he lodelike on to sen. a 1300 Cursor M. 20420 Lokes..þat naman of all our fer bi-fore hir mak latli chere. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. (E.E.T.S.) 584/383 That forehed is lodly That is calouh and bare. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 244 Thou art so loothly, and so oold also. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 265 Ypocrisie..is ylikned in latyn to a lothliche dounghep. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xiii. (1859) 10 He hath..wesshen in the lothely lake of cursyd luxury. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour cxvii. K vj, My clothyng semeth to yow lothly. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. ii. xx, Ȝone Catiue..A laithlie ryme dispitefull and subtelle Compylet hes. 1552 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xvi. 313 If..ye shall happen to espie any persone infected with any lothelie grief or disease. 1591 Spenser Tears Muses 335 Clerks they to loathly idlenes entice. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 21 Discord shall bestrew The vnion of your bed, with weedes so loathly That you shall hate it both. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. i. 543 In chamber brooding like a loathly toad. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 309 And hide reluctant Truth in Error's loathly veil. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus cviii. 1 Loathly Cominius. 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. vi, A knight was sent forth to kill a dragon or a loathly worm. 1896 Barrie Marg. Ogilvy vi. (1897) 115 She sighs at sight of her son, dipping and tearing, and chewing the loathly pen. |
† b. absol. or quasi-n. A monster. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 934 He laid on þat loodly, lettyd he noght, With dynttes full dregh, till he to dethe paste. |
▪ II. loathly, adv.
(ˈləʊðlɪ)
Forms: see loath a. and -ly2.
[OE. lâðl{iacu}ce, f. láð loath a. + -l{iacu}ce -ly2.]
† 1. In a manner to cause loathing; foully, hideously, dreadfully, shockingly. Obs.
| a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxvi. 83 (Sedgefield) 196 Þa ðe leon wæron on gunnon laðlice yrrenga ryn. c 1205 Lay. 7935 Laðliche [c 1275 loþliche] heo feohten. a 1240 Lofsong in Cott. Hom. 205 Ich am lodliche i-hurt ine licame and ine soule. a 1300 Cursor M. 7358 Þe find..laithli sal his licam dight. c 1320 Cast. Love 1136 He..lodliche was bi-lad al for vre sake. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 139 Of ilk airt of the Eist sa laithly it laid. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 431 b/1 A cytyzen of parys..lothely sweryng had blasphemyed Jhesu cryste. 1600 Fairfax Tasso v. xxxii, With dust and blood his locks were loathly dight. |
† b. With abhorrence or detestation. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1090 Alle þat longed to luþer ful lodly he hated. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. i. 31 Seeing how lothly opposite I stood To his vnnaturall purpose. |
2. Reluctantly, unwillingly. Now rare.
| 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes H vij b, In punishyng you, he did it lothely. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xciii. 14 Lothlie he losed his arms, and leete him go. 1624 Trag. Nero iv. vi. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 78 Thou loathly this imprisoning flesh putst on. 1641 Sanderson Serm. (1681) II. 11, I know how lothly men are induced to suspect themselves to be in an error. 1811 Scott Don Roderick ii. v, For Roderick told of many a hidden thing Such as are lothly utter'd to the air. 1845 T. W. Coit Puritanism 408 Mr. Knowles loathly admits, that [etc.]. 1880 Mrs. C. Reade Brown Hand & White III. iv. 102 The child goes, but loathly, and crying that she will come to see them very soon. |
Hence † ˈloathlihead rare—1, loathsomeness.
| 1340 Ayenb. 203 Þet is apert tokne þet..þe lodlichede byeþ ine þi herte. |
▪ III. † ˈloathly, v. Obs.
In 3 loðlichen, 6 Sc. laithly.
[f. loathly a.]
a. trans. To make loathly or repulsive; to disfigure. b. To look upon as loathly; to loathe.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 256 Vor a lute clut mei lodlichen swuðe a muchel ihol peche. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 381, I him forleit as a lad, and lathlyit him mekle. |