magnificently, adv.
(mægˈnɪfɪsəntlɪ)
[f. magnificent a. + -ly2.]
In a magnificent manner.
1. With great splendour or stateliness.
| 1538 Leland Itin. I. 97 The Castel stondith magnificently and strongely on a Rok. 1599 Life Sir T. More in Wordsw. Eccl. Biog. (1853) II. 93 Charles the fifth..was most magnificentlie received by the cittee of London. 1659 Hammond On Ps. lxxiii. 6 They set themselves out most magnificently. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 49 ¶ 7 No Persian Prince was ever so magnificently bountiful. 1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Mar 10 Mar., Her house was magnificently furnished. 1725 Pope Odyss. viii. 494 And to the feast magnificently treads. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxviii, The Battle's magnificently stern array! 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 69 She loved to adorn herself magnificently. 1884 Law Times LXXVII. 402/1 The business meetings will be held in the magnificently furnished council chamber. |
b. With grandeur or impressiveness.
| 1818 Shelley Let. to Mr. & Mrs. Gisborne 10 July, Scenery magnificently fine. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxiv. 245 How magnificently the surf beats against its sides. 1877 A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam xv. (1878) 268 It was all terribly grand, magnificently sublime. |
c. After a great or noble fashion.
| 1831 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Ellistoniana, Waiving his great loss as nothing, and magnificently sinking the sense of fallen material grandeur. |
2. With reference to expression: In an elevated manner. † Also, in highly laudatory terms.
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. A iij, In like manner hath Botero..beene suspected to have had a feeling of the Spanish Pistolets, for that hee hath written so magnificently of that Nation. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 340 So that the Scripture speaks more magnificently of the Church of Christ for the extent of it, then Mr. T. doth. 1710 Dr. Whitby Disc. iii. i. §2 (1735) 209 That Duty of which the Scripture speaketh so magnificently. 1835 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1842) II. v. 61 Writers..talk magnificently about loving the whole human race. |
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Add: 3. More generally: extremely well, wonderfully, excellently. Cf. splendidly adv. 3.
| 1869 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. xxii. 316 Jo frequently convulsed the family by proposing utterly impossible or magnificently absurd ceremonies, in honor of this unusually merry Christmas. 1897 J. F. Ingram Natalia i. 11 With his magnificently organised armies he pitilessly swept the country. 1930 G. W. Knight Wheel of Fire ix. 194 Lear gives one the impression of life's abundance magnificently compressed into one play. 1940 G. Marx Let. 5 Sept. (1967) 25 El Capitan..has done magnificently with the Coward one-acts. 1958 Observer 19 Jan. 11/2 Tweed car-coats will be lined in firm handknits, some in the ‘bawneen’ yarn which washes so magnificently. 1991 R. Keene Battle of Titans 11 Kasparov's gaff[e] in the next game appeared to have cost him the title, but in game 24 he rose magnificently to the occasion. |