▪ I. earthly, a.
(ˈɜːθlɪ)
For forms see earth n.1
[f. earth n.1 + -ly1.]
1. a. Pertaining to the earth, terrestrial. Chiefly and now almost exclusively with implied opposition to heavenly.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 43 Þæm wiþerweardan beoþ þæs mannes synna ᵹecwemran þonne eal eorþlic goldhord. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvi. 29 Witodlice ic secᵹe eow þæt ic ne drince heonunforð of þysum eorþlican wine. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 39 Þet þu luuie þine drihten ofer..alle eorðliche þing. a 1200 Moral Ode 155 in Trin. Coll. Hom. 224 Eðlate him ware al wele and erðeliche blisse. a 1300 Cursor M. 1157 Hou suld ani erdli fless Duelle wid þe in sikirness. c 1320 Sir Beues 3344 Erþliche man semeþ he nouȝt..Boute a fend stolen out of helle. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle i. xxx. (1859) 33 Man, of heuenly nature and erdely very partyner, knytteth to geders bothe heuen and erthe. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 1 A pilgrym that entendeth to go to the erthly Jerusalem. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 115 Then is there mirth in heauen, When earthly things made eauen attone together. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. iv. §23 Wks. 1871 II. 171 This earthly globe is but a point in respect of the whole system of God's creation. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxv, The pageant pomp of earthly man. 1877 Mozley Univ. Serm. i. 1 [The Church] has taken her own way in claiming earthly sovereignty. |
b. Of or belonging to the material or lower elements of human nature.
| 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxiv, For she [knowledge] is earthly of the mind. 1858 Robertson Lect. ii. 191 This influence of the religious element of the imagination on the earthlier feeling. |
c. As an emphatic expletive; = ‘on earth’. Colloq. phr. no earthly, not an earthly, (a) with n., no — whatever, (b) ellipt., no conceivable (chance, hope, use, etc.).
| 1753 Stewart's Trial in Scots Mag. Mar. 132/2 What earthly purpose could the pannel serve by such a..piece of villany? 1838 Dickens Let. 25 Jan. (1965) I. 359 The fifty pounds..makes no earthly difference. 1868 Rogers Pol. Econ. iv. 37 If a man were alone on an island..the precious metals would be of no earthly use. 1899 Referee 22 Oct. (Ware, s.v. No), The actors who have not booked their seats via Mr. Henry Dana, are hereby notified that they have now no earthly, as all seats have been allotted. 1907 Hockey 13 Dec. 101/2 The poor goal⁓keeper had not an ‘earthly’. 1910 Wodehouse Psmith in City xxvii. 239 There's no earthly need to get out. 1911 W. J. Locke Clementina Wing xii. 134 Just an extra fiver on Punchinello. He's got no earthly—you know that as well as I do. 1912 Galsworthy Eldest Son iii, Christine. Let's go and beg him, Ronny! Keith. No earthly! The only hope is in the girl. 1922 ― Loyalties i. ii, The Inspector's no earthly. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid xxix. 279 ‘Going to get away with it?’ ‘Not a hope, mate. Not a bleeding earthly.’ 1965 Listener 11 Nov. 765/3 Received standard, like the Liberals, won't stand an earthly. |
d. Like or resembling the earth. rare.
| 1836 Lytton Athens (1837) I. 304 Thales..maintained the stars and sun to be earthly. |
e. As quasi-n. with pl.: A terrestrial being. rare.
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 177 Let all earthlies and celestials wait Upon thy royal state. |
† 2. Existing or living in or on the ground. Obs.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. iii. 17 Richard cry'de..A Scepter, or an Earthly Sepulchre. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1103 Some earthly Insects..are bred in the earth, some in living creatures. |
† 3. a. Partaking of the nature of earth, resembling earth as a substance, consisting of earth as an element; = earthy. arch. or Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. xi. 96 Yf unkind melancoly hath maystry..soure sauour and sharpe and erthly is felt in the mouth. 1562 Turner Herbal (1568) 107 b, Penny ryall..is made of a fyrie substance with som burnt erthly part. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xiv. 335 The roote is..covered with a thicke rinde or barke, of a browne earthly colour without. 1614 W. B. Philos. Banquet (ed. 2) 15 The gristles are..more earthly, drie, and hard, then Liguaments. 1644 Prynne & Walker Fiennes Trial App. 11 He said the mount..was of an earthly substance for a certaine depth. 1660 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 64/2 The Creatures were first generated of Humidity, Calidity and Earthly Matter. 1770 Priestley in Phil. Trans. LX. 222 Metals and charcoal agree in consisting of phlogiston united to an earthly base. 1771 N. Nicholls Corr. w. Gray (1843) 131 An earthly smell..exhaled by the sun from the loose and fermenting mould. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlvi. (1856) 423 No earthly covering masks the grinning rocks of Proven. |
† b. Pale or lifeless as earth. Obs.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 229 A precious Ring..Doth shine vpon the dead mans earthly cheekes. |
† c. fig. Stolid, dull; cf airy, fiery. ? nonce-use.
| 1662 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 394 Nor so airy [English horses] as the Spanish gennets..nor so earthly as those in the Low Countries. |
† 4. Made of earth or baked clay; = earthen. rare and doubtful.
| 1440 Promp. Parv. 143 Erthly [P. or of erthe made], terrenus, terrestris. 1533 Frith Anoth. Bk. agst. Rastell 333 We have this..treasure in frail, brittle, and earthly vessels. |
5. Comb. earthly-minded a., having the affections fixed on the earth, worldly-minded; whence earthly-mindedness; earthly paradise: see paradise n. 1; earthly-wise adv. (nonce-wd.), in an earthly manner.
| 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. xi. (1611) 35 To be earthly minded men. a 1665 J. Goodwin Filled w. Spirit (1867) 7 An earthly fulness, which..the children of this world, or earthly-minded men, do affect and set their hearts upon. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 93 A very earthly-minded man, and too much sighted into this lower world. 1608 Hieron Wks. I. 749 Suppresse within me all earthly-mindednesse. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 258 That particular sort of Earthly-mindedness which we call Covetousness. 1874 Tennyson Holy Grail 627, I speak too earthlywise, Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell. |
▪ II. ˈearthly, adv. rare.
[f. prec. adj.]
= ‘In any way on earth’, at all.
| 1829 Scott Rob Roy Introd. 36, I do not know earthly where to go or what to do. |