▪ I. † ˈwisely, a. Obs. rare.
Forms: 1 wislic, 3 wislich, 4 compar. wislier, 5 wysely, 6 wysley, 7 wisely.
[OE. w{iacu}slic: see wise a. and -ly1.]
= wise a. 1.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xiii. (1890) 134 Me þynceð wislic, ᵹif þu ᵹeseo þa þing beteran,..þæt we þam onfon. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. i. (1883) 4 Ðonne is eac wislic ræd, þæt manna ᵹehwylc ᵹeornlice smeaᵹe. a 1300 Cursor M. 28116 Wit wislier þat i was amang Haue i striued oft-sithes wrang. 1436 Libel Engl. Policy in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 183 Yf men were wysely, the Frenshmen and Flemmynge Shulde bere no state in see by werrynge. 1556 J. de Flores' Aurelio & Isab. E 8, Vnto howre wysley wordes. |
▪ II. wisely, adv.
(ˈwaɪzlɪ)
Forms: see wise a. and -ly2; also 5 wisily, vi-, vysilie, 5–6 wys(e)-. wyislie, 6 wyslye, wislie.
[OE. w{iacu}sl{iacu}ce = OS. wîslîco, MLG., MDu. wîslîk (Du. wijzelijk), OHG. wîslîcho (MHG. wîslîche), ON. v{iacu}sliga (in the sense of vissuliga certainly): f. wise a. + -ly2.]
In a wise manner.
1. With wisdom, sound judgement, or sagacity. Also more widely, with good sense or discretion.
| c 888 ælfred Boeth. xviii. §1 Se þe wile wislice & ᵹeorn⁓lice æfter þam hlisan spyrian. c 897 ― Gregory's Past. C. xviii. 131 Ðæt he meahte ðæt folc ðy wislicor & ðy rædlicor læran. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 105 Þet mon wisliche spene þa þing þe him god lene on þisse liue to brukene. c 1200 Ormin 2199 Ȝho toc wisliȝ to fraȝȝnenn himm whatt itt bitacnenn mihhte. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1091 Loth hem warnede, wislike and wel, Oc he ne troweden him neuere a del. a 1300 Cursor M. 18852 Clerli spak he þat he wald, And al his skil wiseli he tald. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 956 He hasteþ wel þat wysly kan a-byde. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 70 Alle þese þingis I haue told, þat he þat rediþ hem mai þe visiloker [v.r. wyslocor] in semblable causis worchen. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 1158 Thou ne woste not Ryght wiseliche What harme hathe falle. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxv. 539 See that ye revenge yourself wysly. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia i. (1895) 113 Thys I suppose is the chiefe cause whie theyr common wealthes be wyselyere gouerned. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1922) 78 Young men, who thinke, then they speake wiseliest, when they cannot understand themselves. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 344 One that lou'd not wisely, but too well. 1610 ― Temp. ii. i. 21 Gon... You haue spoken truer then you purpos'd. Seb. You haue taken it wiselier then I meant you should. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 1023 Doubt not but God Hath wiselier arm'd his vengeful ire then so To be forestall'd. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 63 This method of conveying the vegetable food from the earth to the air, and from the air to the earth, is wisely established, for making a just distribution of it upon all parts of the earth. 1829 Southey Sir T. More I. 280 Men judge wiseliest, when they judge most charitably. 1847 Helps Friends in C. i. v. 85 From a genial, wisely-developed man, good things radiate. 1925 E. Phillpotts Voice from Dark xvi. 199 He would have done wiselier to be home before it came. |
b. With an air or assumption of wisdom; sagely, knowingly.
| 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xiii. 126 b, I asked him..what religion he kept, wherupon wisely he gaue me to vnderstand that [etc.]. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 22 He..looking on it, with lacke-lustre eye, Sayes, very wisely, it is ten a clocke. 1888 ‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. iv, ‘Ah! but there's very few Captain Ferrers about,’ said Lassie wisely. |
† 2. Attentively, carefully, heedfully. Obs.
| c 1000 Inst. Polity x. in Thorpe Laws II. 318 Beþencan heora dæda wislice & wærlice. a 1225 Ancr. R. 104 Þe heorte is wel iloked ȝif muð & eien & earen wisliche beoð ilokene. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 82 Ha heold hire aldrene hird wisliche & warliche. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 343, I wayted wisloker. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1613 That they be weisely wachede and in warde holdene. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxvi. 123 Qwhen þai ga to were, þai hafe þam riȝt warly and wysely. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 587, I raid on full richt, To watche wyselie the wayis. 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 111 Powre the said water fynely and wisely into some other vessel that is cleane. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 28 If you holde the same [glass] wisely..you shall see the wine ascende in the forme of a clowd. |
† 3. Skilfully, cleverly, ingeniously; cunningly.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 456 Oð ðæt he Adam on eorðrice, godes handᵹesceaft ᵹearone funde, wislice ᵹeworht, & his wif somed. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xx. 15 Þu þe unstilla aᵹna ᵹesceafta to ðinum willan wislice astyrest. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3630 God it taȝte al ear moysen Wislike hu it wroȝt sulde ben. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 255 With his wordes slyhe and queinte, The whiche he cowthe wysly peinte. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode i. lxxiv. (1869) 44 She wolde it were so wysliche moolded and so subtylliche that bi seemynge it were litel. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia Ecl. ii. (1922) 231 The hives of wisely painfull Bees. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 33 Here comes my Lady: make your excuse wisely, you were best. |