terribly, adv.
(ˈtɛrɪblɪ)
[f. as prec. + -ly2.]
In a terrible manner.
1. So as to excite terror or dread; dreadfully.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 245 b, Impenitent synners..drawen downe to hell moost terribly or feerfully. 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 313 We heard a hollow burst of bellowing Like Buls, or rather Lyons,..It strooke mine eare most terribly. 1718 Prior Solomon i. 639 This ample azure sky, Terribly large, and wonderfully bright. a 1848 R. W. Hamilton Rew. & Punishm. viii. (1853) 362 It is at death that the consequences of guilt are often most terribly revealed. |
2. a. Very severely, painfully, or badly; passing colloquially into a general intensive: Exceedingly, extremely, excessively, very greatly.
| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xx. 184 It raines and snowes terribly. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 274 Tulips are charming to the Sight, but terribly offensive to the Smell. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 101 Relying on its courage, and the strength of its bill, with which it [the puffin] bites most terribly. 1833 Dickens Let. ? Oct. (1965) I. 31, I am terribly out of spirits this morning. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lviii. 147 You must be terribly in want of your dinner. 1871 Jowett Plato I. 49 Why then are they so terribly anxious to prevent you from being happy? Mod. I am at present terribly busy. |
b. Extraordinarily badly; incompetently, feebly. Cf. sense 2 c of the adj. colloq.
| 1930 Publishers' Weekly 29 Mar. 1741 (Advt.), About 1,000,000 [bridge players] now play Contract, almost all of them terribly. 1964 J. Mitchell White Father iii. 54 You can sing terribly and get away with it if only you have the right backing. |