▪ I. † ˈbigly, a. Obs.
Also bygly, byggly.
[f. big v. to inhabit + -ly1.]
Habitable, fit or pleasant to dwell in; hence gen. pleasant.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 962 Bryng me to þat bygly bylde, & let me se þy blysful bor. c 1440 York Myst. vi. 42 To byggly blys we bothe were brought. c 1440 Bone Flor. 220 He wyll dystroye thy bygly landys. c 1450 Henryson Bludy Serk 13 Scho wynnit in a bigly bour, On feld wes none so fair. [a 1803 Erlington i. in Child Ball. i. (1882) 107/1 He has built a bigly bower, An a' to put that lady in.] |
▪ II. bigly, adv.
(ˈbɪglɪ)
[f. big a. + -ly2.]
† 1. With great force or violence; firmly, strongly, violently. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 321 Þe barrez of vche a bonk ful bigly me haldes. c 1400 Destr. Troy xiv. 6035 Knyt hom with cables..And bound hom full bigly on hor best wise. 1470–85 Malory Arthur (1816) I. 416 So roughly and so bigly, that there was not one that might withstand him. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. lxxviii. 140 A serius argument: Whether I should liue or die, was biglie bent. |
2. Loudly, boastfully, haughtily, pompously.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 397/1 And bereth it out bigly w{supt} shameles deuelyshe heresie. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. (1841) 104 Goliah thought bigly of himself. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlvi. 218 Oftentimes Authoritie lookes biglier than a Bull. 1741 Johnson Debates in Parl. (1787) II. 246 Talking bigly, indeed, of vindicating foreign rights. 1846 Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. II. 299 He spoke as bigly and fiercely as a soaken yeoman at an election feast. |