shrewdly, adv.
(ˈʃruːdlɪ)
Forms: see shrewd a.; also 6 scrodely, 6–7 shrodly.
[f. shrewd a. + -ly2.]
† 1. Evilly, ill; wickedly; maliciously. Obs.
| 13.. Pol. Songs (Camden) 326 He bithenketh him hu he may shrewedelichest worche. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2860 Alle wiþ herte grete, & shrewed-liche þai dede hym kulle. 1382 Wyclif Isa. i. 16 Resteth to do shreudely, lerneth to do wel. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 324 He was ful ignorant wilfulli & shrewdeli. c 1450 Merlin xx. 313 To dye as cowardes shrewdely oon with-oute a-nother. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 620 Fals flaterers that..speke fayre before the and shrewdly behynde. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 528/2 They may seme repentaunt openlye, and yet thinke in their heartes ful shrewdly. |
† 2. Of wounding, hurting, cutting: Sharply, severely. Often in
fig. context.
Obs.| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xlviii. (Juliana) 80 Quhene we do nocht all his wil, he gerris dynge ws schreuytly. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 431 He..was shrewidlie wowndid with waspis & fleis. 1576 Gascoigne Steel Glas Wks. 1910 II. 147 My battred braynes, (which now be shrewdly brusde). 1600 Holland Livy vi. 224 Deepe debts are sharpe goads, and prick shreawdly. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 1 The Ayre bites shrewdly: is it very cold? 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. ii. iii. 228, I see my reputation is at stake. My fame is shrowdly gored. 1613 W. B. tr. Michaelis' Hist. Magic. 337 A stone..fell vpon his head, and did shrewdly cut him. 1658 A. Fox Wurtz' Surg. iii. ix. 244 A Gentleman had a fall with his horse, was shrewdly bruised on his left side. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. 99, I knew one shrewdly gor'd by a Bull. |
† 3. Sharply, severely, harshly.
Obs. a. Of speech.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 530 Lo yet how shrewedly Vn-to my confessour to day he spak. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3514 A man..to Iulius Cesar ones Crabbidly seid, and schrewdly [etc.]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 134/3 The mynysters answerden thou spakest shrewdly to y⊇ wymen. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. vii. 134 Oft and richt schrewitly wald scho clepe and cry. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. To Rdr., This word Mummianiz'd in the beginning of my first Epistle is shrewdly called in question. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Somerset (1662) 16 Sir Roger..urged it [falsehood] shrewdly against the Person, who in that place, first revived the Aspersion. |
b. Of treatment.
| c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon x. 257 He was a ferde lest he sholde be yet more shreudely handlyd. 1589 Greene Tullies Loue Wks. (Grosart) VII. 203 If I write sharpely, blame me not that am vsed so shrowdlie. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 244 Some of Gods children..are shrewdly handled..and brought very low, euen vnto deaths doore. 1697 Potter Antiq. Greece i. ix. (1715) 46 Being of Opinion, that he had been shrewdly handled by the Divine Vengeance. |
† 4. Badly, ill, poorly.
Obs.| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. xviii. (1869) 82 Thei..passen the gospel that j haue herd seyd in oure toun, and keepen it shrewedeliche. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1210 Shroudly it doth accorde, To pyke out honesty of suche a potshorde. 1541 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 658 Ordre must be taken in tyme for the payment of the workmen, or elles they shal worke but shrewdly. |
5. Qualifying a word or phrase expressive of a painful or adverse condition, menacing or disquieting action, violent or oppressive treatment; passing into a mere intensive: Grievously, intensely, seriously.
| α 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. viii. (1895) 245 Most florishing and wealthie peoples beyng some of them shrewedely shaken. a 1553 Udall Royster D. iv. iv, Then Truepenny's fire-fork will him shrewdly fray. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 91 He's shrewdly vext at something. c 1610 Women Saints 57 A greate number of birds alighting in her fields of corne, and deuouring it shrewdlie. 1652 Heylin Cosmogr. i. F 2 A Famine, which shrewdly raged among the Commons. 1661 Boyle Style Script. (1675) 220 To be shrewdly tempted to be a partial relator of them. 1687 Good Advice 43 Shrewdly against the will of the high Church-men. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 133 Yet seem'd she not to winch, though shrewdly pain'd. 1710 Shaftesbury Soliloquy iii. §2. 146 Shrewdly disappointed. 1848 C. C. Clifford Aristophanes, Frogs 4 My shoulder acheth shrewdly. 1856 G. H. Boker Anne Boleyn i. i, We shall be shrewdly cuffed. 1863 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gladiators xliv, The attack of yesterday..must have shaken them shrewdly. |
| β c 1533 Sir W. Fitzwilliam in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 284 Which happenyng shulde shrowdly discomfort her. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden O 4 b, I haue brought him lowe, and shrowdly broken him. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 163 These English are shrowdly out of Beefe. c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. ii. (1881) 83 He's shrowdly frighted by this violence. 1622 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1908) II. 57 Hee threatned us shrodly. 1633 T. James Voy. 78 The Ice did driue against the Ship, and shake her shrowdly. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. 56 Shroudly shrubbing their branches. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. 73 Otherwise he would be shrowdly disappointed. |
† b. Intensely, immensely.
Obs.| 1663 Killigrew Parson's Wedding iv. i, I like her shrewdly; I hate a wench that is all whore and no company. |
6. See
shrewd a. 14 and 10 b.
a. qualifying
suspect,
suspicious,
guess,
fear,
mistrust.
| 1559 Mirr. Mag., Warwick vi, This made the French king shrewdly to suspecte. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 273, I mistrust y⊇ present case of Democritus so shrewdly. 1588 J. Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 22 He gesseth shrewdlie..our intent. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ i. v. §1 Which may make it shrewdly suspitious that their intent is only to impose on our understandings. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 73 'Tis shrewdly to be mistrusted, that something a great deal further off..has some kind of tamperings here. 1757 Chesterfield Lett. cccxxiii, I shrewdly suspect that his Royal Highness has been the dupe of that sentiment. 1813 Scott Rokeby vi. x, 'Tis shrewdly guess'd That Redmond rules the damsel's breast. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xiii, She coined pretexts to go downstairs, in order, as I shrewdly suspected, to visit the library. |
† b. qualifying
probable.
Obs.| 1659 H. More Immort. Soul ii. i. 120 It is shreudly probable, that fluid perceptive Matter will not fail to find the colours tinctured from one another. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 72 Is it not shrewdly probable, that..Colours are nothing else but a various modification of this motion? |
7. With keen insight or perception; with shrewd intelligence or discrimination; astutely, sagaciously.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 84 Cosin you apprehend passing shrewdly. 1719 Waterland Vind. Christ's Div. xxi. 310 The..Author observes, very shrowdly, that..it is to Him a Mystery. 1782 J. Brown Nat. & Rev. Relig. i. ii. 35 The Spartans held theft to be innocent, if it was but shrewdly committed. 1825 Scott Talism. ix, ‘Shrewdly replied’, said the monarch. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. V. 110 He shrewdly propounded a dilemma which silenced Pomponne and Torcy. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 258 Shrewdly he kept the secret to himself. |
b. Cleverly, skilfully.
rare.
| 1851 T. T. Lynch Lett. to Scattered (1872) 194 Many a rough stone..will take a fine polish..if it be shrewdly cut and carefully rubbed. |