ˈvertically, adv.
[f. vertical a. + -ly2.]
1. a. In a vertical manner, direction, or position; so as to be vertical to the plane of the horizon, the earth's surface, or some other horizontal line or plane; perpendicularly, or approximately so; directly overhead or down below.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. x. 326 The Dogstarre,..although it be not verticall unto any part of Asia,..yet is it so unto America, and vertically passeth over the habitations of Peru and Brasilia. 1677 Grew Anat. Fruits v. §17 The Seed-Case of Anagallis..opens not by its Meridian or Vertically,..but by its Horizon. 1679 Moxon Math. Dict. s.v. Vertex, A Star is said to be Vertical, that..Vertically hangs over any place. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 17 If Lightening causes these Circles, it must also be allowed that it descends vertically. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. II. xvii. 261 note, The pupil in animals of the cat kind..is oblong vertically. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 763 Capsules opening vertically. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 221 Some [insects], as the butterflies, raise their wings vertically in repose. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 615 Some modification of lateral training will, in almost every case, be found preferable to training vertically. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. ii. 21 An earthquake occurred, vertically under the town of Arica. |
| Comb. 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot. s.v. Verticale, A vertically ovate leaf is the same with an obversely-ovate or obovate leaf; and a vertically cordate leaf is the same with an obversely cordate or obcordate leaf. 1878 Abney Treat. Photogr. xxxiii. 268 A fair general focus can..be obtained by using with the camera a vertically-pivoted swing-back. |
b. Math. (
Cf. vertical a. 2).
| 1660 Barrow Euclid i. xv. Schol., If four right lines, proceeding from one point, make the angles vertically opposite equal. 1840 Lardner Geom. 24 When two straight lines cross each other,..the angle BAD is said to be vertically opposite to the angle EAC. |
c. Mus. Harmonically rather than melodically. (
Cf. vertical a. 3 e.)
| 1934 Hound & Horn July–Sept. 596 He..feels that he is tired of exploiting the folk tune, horizontally, vertically, atonally, seriously, or comically. 1954 Grove's Dict. Mus. (ed. 5) VIII. 126/2 Pre-war controversy as to the justification of programme music and ‘hearing vertically’ began to have no more than antiquarian interest. 1969 Listener 26 June 905/1 Strauss's counterpoint tends to be the result of thinking ‘vertically’, against strongly defined chord-progressions. |
2. Throughout the different levels of a hierarchical system.
| 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Sept. 2/1 With an industry organized vertically, the logical labor organization is vertical. 1958 Listener 9 Oct. 547/2 Differences throughout the Arab sectors run both vertically and horizontally: between religious sects, social strata, settlers and nomads. 1962 Economist 27 Oct. 393/1 The industry should..be concentrated into fewer, vertically-integrated firms. 1974 J. White tr. Poulantzas's Fascism & Dictatorship iii. ii. 95 The big stores competed for growth as they were vertically integrated into the industrial trusts. |