▪ I. † mildly, a. Obs.
[f. mild a. + -ly1. Cf. ON. mildligr.]
= mild a.
| a 950 Durham Ritual (Surtees) 37 Mildelic, propitius. c 1205 Lay. 8832 Mid mildliche worden. |
▪ II. mildly, adv.
(ˈmaɪldlɪ)
[f. mild a. + -ly2.]
In a mild manner. (See the senses of the adj.) Esp. in colloq. phr. to put it mildly, to express an idea without exaggeration; freq. ironical, with an implication of understatement.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. viii. §1 His se cyning..mildelice onfeng. a 1225 Ancr. R. 136 Ine swete munegunge of þe soðe wunden þet he oð soðe rode mildeliche þolede. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2778 Forð he nam to sen witterlike, Hu ðat fier brende milde-like. a 1300 Cursor M. 15651 Ful mildli to þam he spak. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 97 Canute..afterwarde dede more myldely [MS. β, myldloker, γ, myldelokur] wiþ seynt Edmond. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. li. 123, I owte in euery blamyng & repreuyng to meke myself & suffre myldely. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. i. 32 Wilt thou, Pupill-like, Take thy Correction mildly, kisse the Rodde..? 1626 Bacon Sylva §375 The Aire once heated..maketh the Flame burne more mildly, and so helpeth the Continuance. 1646 Mayne Serm. Unity 13 Pardon the hardnes of the language, I cannot make the Scripture speak mildlyer then it doth. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxviii. 360 We ought to have treated her mildly, giving small doses of calomel or blue pill. 1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 439 What I'm wondering to myselfwhose for there's a strong tendency, to put it mildly, by making me the medium. 1949 E. E. Cummings Let. 9 July (1969) 191 Thank you much more than kindly for a most (putting it very mildly) luxurious gift. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 240/1 This, to put it mildly, seems improbable. 1972 Listener 6 Apr. 448/3 Suggestions that conditions [on Mars] may periodically change, causing torrential rainfall every 25,000 years or so, are—to put it mildly—highly speculative as yet. |
| Comb. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. i. xv. E vj, Then do I hope to drinke Lyuely and myldlie rellesde wynes. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxviii, The mildly-uttered suggestion. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 681 The patient became mildly demented. |