easily, adv.
(ˈiːzɪlɪ)
Formerly compared easilier, -est; also easierly. Forms: 4 aisieliche, eseliche, eesely, eesili, 4–5 esely, esili, esyly, 5–6 easely, 6 easly, easilie, 6– easily.
[f. easy a. + -ly2.]
1. Comfortably; without pain, discomfort, or anxiety, luxuriously, self-indulgently.
| c 1300 St. Brandan 395 Ȝe schulle wende, Al eseliche withoute anuy [MS. Laud 108, 106 (Halliw.) has aisieliche]. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 20 To disceyue men in gostly goodis and worldly, and norischen hem esily in synne. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 471 Vp on an Amblere esily [v.r. esely] she sat. c 1440 York Myst. xlviii. 298 Belyve ȝe brought me of þe beste And made my bedde full esyly. 1562 Act 5 Eliz. xii. §3 Persons seeking only to live easily, and to leave their honest Labour. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 339 The one sleepes easily because he cannot study. Mod. The patient rested much more easily last night. |
2. Without constraint or stiffness; smoothly, freely.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. iii, Þis puppis [the hinder part of the brain] is harde þat þe synewis of meuynge meue þe eseloker [1535 easelier] and þe soner. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. xx. 8 A swerde..which wente easely out and in. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 159 Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. Mod. The window-frame fits quite easily. |
† 3. Without hurry; deliberately, gradually. Also, calmly, quietly. Obs.
| 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1675 That through the worlde her fame goo Esely and not to faste. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2208 When Priam hade his prologe preched to ende, Ector hym answarede esely and faire. c 1440 Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 473 Let hit renne thorugh esiliche. 1483 Vulg. abs Terentio 7 b, Bere esily thy harme & it shall greue the the lesse. 1611 Tourneur Ath. Trag. ii. iv, I am acquainted with the way..Lets easily walke. 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. i. 9 She reach'd her Hand easily towards my Breast. |
4. a. With little exertion, labour, or difficulty.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1929 So great a noyse..Men myght hyt have herd esily to Rome. c 1400 Mandeville xiv. 160 The poyntes [of these contrefetes] wil breken lightly, and men may esily pollische hem. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. ix. 46 Withoute the clerkis..lay persoones schulen not esili liȝtli and anoon haue the dew vndirstonding of Holi Scripture. 1538 Starkey England ii. ii. §12 (1871) 190 By thys mean..the controuersys..schold easelyar be pacyfyd. 1550 Veron Godly Saiyngs (1846) 9 Whyche thing we may easly se in the historyes of the olde auncyent Jewes. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xiv. 65 Nothing is more easily broken than a mans word. 1718 Motteux Quix. (1733) II. 178 Who might easiliest get out of the City. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 29 It is a..better rule not to put off till tomorrow what we can do more easily to-day. |
b. In phrases like easily possible, it may easily happen. Also easily first (= beyond question) after L. facile princeps.
| 1590 Swinburn Testaments 145 They are more straung, nor easilie like to happen. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 75. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 96 We name..things according to what they oftenest or easiliest do seem to us to be. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xlix. 6 He as easily last among the poets As thou surely the first among the pleaders. 1883 W. Blaikie in Harper's Mag. Nov. 907/1 Harvard has..easily the finest gymnasium in the world. |
5. With little resistance or reluctance.
| 1649 Milton Eikon. Wks. 1738 I. 392 The House of Peers..gave..easily [their consent]. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physic 56 If it come from the Brain it [a Catarrh] afflicteth easily, long and continually. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 153 ¶4 Youth catches Distempers more easily [than Age]. 1715 Desaguliers Fires Impr. 38 They easily bear with the smothering Heat of Stoves. 1725 De Foe Voy. round W. (1840) 24, I had too easily, and, I may say, too weakly, put that to the vote. 1871 Tennyson Last Tourn. 401 [He] had thought He loved her..wedded easily But left her all as easily. |
† 6. Preceded by but: In a listless or indifferent manner; hence, in a trifling degree; with poor success; indifferently, meanly, poorly. Obs.
| 1475 Bk. Noblesse 29 Some peple endowed with worldly goodes,..can not depart but easily withe finaunce. 1476 Sir J. Paston in Lett. 776 III. 162 The Frenshe Kynge cheryssheth hyr [Queen Margaret] butt easelye. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 16 Some nonnys kepe theyr virginite but easely. Ibid. 34 For lacke of tethe I cham my meate but easily. 1536 Remed. Sedition 16 Can they here goddis lawes, ye though they be but easily preached, and not abhorre sedition..? |
7. (Made) in such a manner as to be easy.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 75 The staires..are so easily made, that one may go them vp and downe a hors-backe. |
8. colloq. At least (a specified number or time); more than.
| 1947 Library Jrnl. Aug. 1097/2 Easily, a million cards were handled in the process and the difference between that and 100,000 destroyed. |