▪ I. † ˈlitherly, a. Obs.
[f. lither a. + -ly1. OE. had l{yacu}þerlic in the sense of sordid, mean; cf. G. liederlich (mentioned s.v. lither a.).]
a. Spiteful, mischievous. b. Idle, lazy.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. lxxxv. (1878) 174 Some litherly lubber more eateth than twoo, yet leaueth vndone that another will doo. a 1643 W. Cartwright Ordinary ii. ii. (1651) 25 What wends against the grain is lytherly. 1684 H. More Answer 24 To awaken them out of their remisness and litherly formalness. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. ii. xxxii, He was waspish, arch and litherlie. |
▪ II. † ˈlitherly, adv. Obs.
For forms see lither a. and -ly2.
[f. lither a. + -ly2.]
In a ‘lither’ manner. a. Wickedly, deceitfully, viciously. b. Badly, meanly, miserably, wretchedly. c. Idly, lazily.
| c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 178/27 Pessime, luþerlice. a 1225 St. Marher. 4 Thine forðfederes beoð..forloren luðerliche. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1563 Ðin broðer iacob was her nu And toc ðin bliscing liðer-like. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 36 What vrþly haþel..Wolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly attyred. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1231 Leþerly as a lyoun he lepes in-to þe prese. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 113 A clerk hadde litherly biset his whyle, But if he koude a Carpenter bigyle. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1263 To unlordly he wyrkez, Thus letherly agaynes law to lede my pople. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 171 Men say ‘lyght chepe letherly for-yeldys’. 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle xvii. (1588) 167 Earnestly, manfully, and not litherly or faintly. a 1583 Arbuthnot in Pinkerton Anc. Sc. Poems (1786) 144 Men wes sueir, and durst not steir; But lurkit lidderlie. 1600 Holland Livy ii. lviii. 83 Doing all things that they did, litherly, slowly, rekelesly and stubbornely. |