▪ I. † ˈselfly, a. Obs. rare.
[f. self + -ly1.]
a. (One's or its) own. b. a selfly or one selfly, one and the same.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 402 Severally, and of a selfly motion. Ibid. v. 647 [The phœnix] re-ingendred of it's selfly seed. 1598 Ibid. ii. ii. iv. 730 Where, as (by Art) one selfly blast breath'd out From panting bellows passeth all⁓about. |
▪ II. † ˈselfly, adv. Obs.
[f. self + -ly2.]
1. a. Even. b. Specially.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 922 We knowe selfely (neiz) the soveraygne lyghtnesse to be darked of a lyght cloude. 1556 Aurelio & Isab. M 3 Selfley at this owre whan plaintes and wepinges seakes my. |
2. Of or by oneself (or itself); of one's (or its) own accord or motion; spontaneously.
Several times in Sylvester, Sclater, and S. H. Golden Law.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 1176 Selfly too weak for the least weights foundation. 1595 Southwell St. Peter's Compl. (1602) 8 Selfely dismayd, I neyther fought nor lost, I gaue the field. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. i. 587 A Forrest thick..Which, selfly op'ning [etc.]. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. viii. 18 That ground..which attracts humors and selfely expels them. 1629 W. Sclater Expos. 2 Thess. 211 There is in God, what selfely inclines him to giue, without, and against merit. Ibid. 272 He monisheth them, selfely to correct their errors. 1656 S. H. Golden Law 4 His Right to the Crown is not Natural, or selfly Hereditary. |