hardly, adv.
(ˈhɑːdlɪ)
Forms: see hard a.
[f. hard a. + -ly2.]
In a hard manner.
† 1. With energy, force, or strenuous exertion; vigorously, forcibly, violently. Obs.
| c 1205 Lay. 7480 Hardliche [c 1275 hardeliche] heo heowen. Ibid. 16700 Samuel þæt sweord an-hof And hærdeliche adun sloh. c 1305 St. Christopher 82 in E.E.P. (1862) 62 He..step hardeliche & faste. c 1460 Towneley Myst. (Surtees) 247 Lay on him hardely, And make hym go his gate. ? a 1550 Freiris of Berwik 552 in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 303 Stryk, stryk herdely, for now is tyme to the. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1658) 625 The Lamprey caught fast hold on his hand, biting hardly. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 58 ¶6 I..drink stale beer the more hardly, because, unless I will, nobody else does. 1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenst. iv. (1865) 68 My pulse beat so quickly and hardly, that I felt the palpitation of every artery. |
† 2. Boldly, daringly, hardily. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Heo..þet, wið swuche goste, herdeliche ne uihteð. a 1300 Cursor M. 12953 (Gött.) Hardli [Fairf. baldeli] he ȝode him nere. c 1400 Rowland & O. 446 Feghte one, dere Sone, hardely. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 194 Lete vs goo to it hardly For we durste well assaylle the devylle when ye be wyth vs. 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 99 b, Speake hardly thy minde. 1622 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (ed. 18) 258 Keep on your hats, sit even as you do hardly. |
† 3. Firmly. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Herdeliche ileueð þet al þe deofles strencðe melteð þuruh þe grace of þe holi sacrament. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 264 Leue this doctryne hardyly as ȝoure crede! 1583 Stanyhurst æneis, Conceites (Arb.) 138 In brest of the godesse, Gorgon was coketed hardlye. |
4. With hard pressure; with severity or rigour; severely, rigorously, harshly.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxxx. 158 He is hardely matched, wherfore he hathe nede of your ayde. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 190 Two Bishops and an Abbot..were hardly and streightly kept in strong prison so long as the king lyved. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 3, I besout [him]..that he wuld not deale so hardly bi me. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 51 The unconstant people..now began to speak hardly of him. a 1656 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 32 Being shipped at Deep, the Sea used us hardly. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, How is it, Sir, that this poor man..is used thus hardly? 1853 A. J. Morris Business i. 10 Conscience is hardly bestead by the demands of life. 1886 Law T. 20 Feb. 283/2 The rule worked hardly. |
5. With trouble or hardship; uneasily, painfully.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxi[i]. 29 They that lye in the dust, and lyue so hardly. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII, 41 Cornysh⁓men..gate theyr lyvyng hardly by minynge and diggyng tinne and metall. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 118 The Husbandmen live hardly. 1705 W. Bosman Guinea 108 The Money we get here is indeed hardly enough acquired. 1712 Sewall Diary 17 June (1879) II. 352 Mr. White condescending to ride before, sitting hardly. 1840 Macaulay Ess., Clive (1887) 555 What is made is slowly, hardly, and honestly earned. |
6. Not easily, with difficulty. Obs. exc. as contained in 7.
| 1535 Coverdale Wisd. ix. 16 Very hardly can we discerne the thinges that are vpon earth. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Luke xviii. 24 How hardly [Tind., Cranm., Geneva, with what difficulty] shal they that haue money enter into the kingdom of God? 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. ii. §2 We are hardliest able to bring such proofe..as may satisfie gainesayers. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. iv. xvi. 116 Vnto whom accesse was hardliest obtained. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 270 Bitumen..quickly kindled, hardly quenched. 1708 Burnet Lett. (ed. 3) 123 When it has rain'd ever so little..the Carts go deep, and are hardly drawn. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xiv. 271 Easily provoked and hardly pacified. 1822 Keble Serm. i. (1848) 17 The rock, to which Solomon hardly won his way after many hard conflicts. |
7. Barely, only just; almost not; not quite; scarcely. (In early use only gradually distinguished from 6. Formerly sometimes (as still in vulgar use) with superfluous negative.)
| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 7 It hardelye agreeth with the pinciples of Philosophie and common experience. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 310 Being so little. (as hardly the finenesse thereof cannot be seen). 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 89 All which will hardly amount to fower score pounds. 1674 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. iii. (1677) 59 Either of these will not suffer him to keep hardly flesh upon his back. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 142 When Day broke I could hardly believe my Eyes. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 193 ¶1, I had hardly entered the Room, when I was accosted by Mr. Thomas Dogget. 1783 Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. i. 2 We can hardly place it earlier. 1840 De Quincey Style Wks. XI. 262 With a life of leisure, but with hardly any books. 1860–1 F. Nightingale Nursing 46, I need hardly say, that [etc.]. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §7. 100 A year had hardly passed. [Mod. (vulgar) I couldn't hardly tell what he meant.] |
8. In close proximity, closely; = hard adv. 6.
| 1584 in Spenser's Wks. (Grosart) I. 483 Being hardlie followed by certaine kearnes. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 35 They were so hardly pursued. 1880 Daily News 12 Nov. 2/1 They are hardly run by some of the English Potteries. |
† 9. Parenthetically. Certainly, assuredly, by all means: see hardily 3. Obs.
10. Comb. (with ppl. adjs.), as hardly-acquired, hardly-earned, hardly-labouring, hardly-rendered, hardly-removed, hardly-used.
| 1625 K. Long tr. Barclay's Argenis iii. xii. 190 Tokens of his hardly-removed sicknesse. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw II. 31 Many a hardly-labouring soul, full of generous plans and motives, has seen a stranger enter into its labours. 1866 Trollope Belton Est. II. vi. 158 The hardly-used groom had returned from his futile afternoon's inquiry. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 34 With her hardly-earned gains. 1890 W. Stebbing Peterborough ix. 176 The honour and loyalty of the hardly-used veteran. 1937 Discovery Aug. 240/2 The hardly-won natural gem. 1952 C. P. Blacker Eugenics 282 Each hardly-won improvement in human conditions. |