barely, adv.
(ˈbɛəlɪ)
[f. bare a. + -ly2.]
1. Nakedly, without covering, nudely.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 21/1 Barely, vbi nakydly. 1570 Levins Manip. /101 Barely, nude. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iv. ii. 18 You barely leaue our thornes to pricke our selues. |
2. Openly, without disguise or concealment, clearly, plainly.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xvi. 29 Nu..bærlice ðu spreces. 1352 Minot Poems iii. (1795) 38 Thaire leders may thai barely ban. a 1670 Hacket Cent. Serm. (1675) 549 Here is the Resurrection of our Saviour barely and positively affirmed. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xvii. 604 When the question is put barely before them they avoid committing themselves. |
† 3. Without qualification or reserve, unconditionally; wholly, completely; absolutely, positively. Obs.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 548, I am boun to þe bur barely to morne, To seche þe gome of þe grene. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxix. 12090 He besit hym barly þe burde forto seche. Ibid. xxv. 10132 A space for his spilt men spedely to graue, And bryng hom to berynes, barly no more. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. v. 125 Bot [= unless] barly þat þe Patrowne Suld gyve . hys Presentatyowne. |
4. Merely, simply, only. arch.
| 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 526 Not barely in word, but truly in deed. 1682 Norris Hierocles 89 Goodness of action does not consist barely in not sinning. 1712 Hughes Spect. No. 467 ¶8 Instructive, as well as barely agreeable. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ix. 717 The only objection..might have been easily removed, by barely prescribing what sort of evidence they ought to receive. |
5. Only just; hence, not quite, hardly, scarcely, with difficulty.
| 1494 Fabyan Edw. I, an. 1298 (R.) Barely xxviii. persons. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 111 Thou fleest that vice not meanly nor barely, But mainely. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. iii. 157 Their Bones are barely cover'd with their Skin. 1768 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LVIII. 77 Some wax that was barely fluid. 1805 T. Jefferson Writ. (1830) IV. 42 The Speakers..had barely time to get out of his way. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. ii. §9 Sounds..so faint as to be barely recognizable. |
6. Scantily, poorly; baldly.
| a 1535 More Wks. 255 (R.) Rehersing the tother syde nakedly and barely..to make it seeme the more slender. c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 99 Let him..be barely fed, With..barly-bread. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 848 Thy coat is thin; why, man, thou'rt barely drest. |