gaily, gayly, adv.
(ˈgeɪlɪ)
[f. gay a. + -ly2.
The spelling gaily is the more common, and is supported by the only existing analogy, that of daily.]
In a gay manner.
1. With reference to dress, etc.: Brightly, showily, smartly, splendidly.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 597 A sadel, Þat glemed ful gayly with mony gold frenges. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 912 His gloves gaylyche gilte, and gravene at þe hemmez. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxxi. 388 (Add. MS.) This man..noryshede hem wel, ande arayede hem gayle. 1646 Crashaw Steps to Temple 83 Brother of fear! more gaily clad, The merrier fool o' th' two, yet quite as mad. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 744 Like some fair flow'r..That gayly blooms, but ev'n in blooming dies. 1751 Gray Ode Spring iii, Some show their gaily gilded trim Quick-glancing to the sun. 183. Tennyson Coquette ii, A nobler yearning never broke her rest Than but to dance and sing, be gaily drest. 1876 C. G. Finney Mem. ix. 115 A young woman..who had two or three tall plumes in her bonnet, and was rather gayly dressed. |
2. With reference to bearing and manner: Cheerfully, joyously, festively; airily, jauntily.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. iii, And thus Dame Gaynour the gode, gayli ho glidus The gatys with Syr Gawan by a grene welle. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. xlviii, Many fooles thinke it nothing so While they see courtiers outwarde so gayly go. 1588 A. King tr. Canisius' Catech. 87 Ye kirk moued be knauledge and experience of theis fruicts vses gaylie to sing. 17.. ? Swift Orpheus burlesqued 42 Wights, who travel that way daily, Jog on by his example gaily. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) II. 21 (Hotel at Paris) The event I treated gaily came seriously to my door. 1778 F. Burney Diary 23 Aug., At tea we all met again, and Dr. Johnson was gaily sociable. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. (1853) 97 Addison wrote his papers as gaily as if he was going out for a holiday. 1884 W. C. Smith Kildrostan 63 And the grouse-cock gaily crowing Fears not either dog or gun. |
3. Chiefly
Sc. and
dial. Fairly; tolerably; pretty well. In this sense also
Sc. gaylies;
cf. the synonymous
gaylans (
Jam.), where the suffix
= -lings; and see
gey adv.| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 116 b, For this purpose..they woulde haue serued gayly well. 1568 Let. in Antiq. Rep. (1808) II. 394 A new Devyce of Heade dressyng setteth forth a Woman gaylye well. 1721 Kelly Scot. Proverbs 400 How dee yee..Bra'ly, finely, Geily at least. 1786 Burns Address of Beelzebub 34 Your factors, grieves, trustees and bailies, I canna' say but they do gaylies. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. (1821) 113 Tom is gaylie weel. 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 51/2 He..always replied that he was going on ‘gaily’. 1840 De Quincey Style ii. Wks. 1862 X. 224 ‘It's gaily nigh like to four mile like.’ 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Gayly, in good health. ‘We're all gayly.’ |
4. Comb., as
gaily-bedizened,
gaily-breaking,
gaily-chequered,
gaily-dressed,
gaily-flowered,
gaily-jewelled,
gaily-throbbing,
gaily-warbling adjs.| 1897 Daily News 17 June 6/4 The *gaily-bedizened arm of the breakwater showed the scene of the ceremony. |
| 1890 Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 149 The rippling, *gaily-breaking billow. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 40 A *gaily-chequered heart-expanding view. |
| 1835 Willis Pencillings I. xviii. 130 Their *gaily-dressed chasseurs are in waiting. |
| 1897 Daily News 17 Feb. 9/4 Dainty summer dresses and *gaily-flowered hats. |
| 18.. Poe City in the Sea Poems (1859) 95 Not the *gaily-jeweled dead Tempt the waters from their bed. |
| 1810 Associate Minstrels 23 Tell me what *gaily-throbbing heart..Ere Summer gild another sky, Beneath the valley's clods shall lie? |
| 1735 Somerville Chase iv. 462 Bid the loud Horns, in *gayly-warbling Strains, Proclaim the Felon's Fate. |