wightly, adv. arch. and dial.
(ˈwaɪtlɪ)
Forms: see wight a.
[f. wight a. + -ly2.]
1. Bravely, boldly, valiantly, ‘stoutly’; strongly, vigorously, forcibly, powerfully, energetically.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7642 Wit þat vnled son dauid mete, And wightli wan o þam his dete. a 1340 Hampole Psalter vi. 10 Thai ga noght whidere thai thoght: and shame thaim ful wightly. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1405 Þai within on þe wall wightly withstondyn. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 2822 Wightly hys swerd A-bowte he wavyd. a 1450 Ratis Raving etc. 2 How wychtly þai sustenyt al tormentis..done to thaim. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. Prol. 64 To stand wichtly, and fecht in the forfront. a 1813 in W. S. Crockett Minstrelsy (1893) 101 Wightly can he wield a rung. 1819 Gall Poems 49 You..wightly wag the skelping whang. |
2. Actively, briskly, nimbly, with agility or alacrity; swiftly, rapidly; quickly, without delay.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 10131 Lyghtly to go, wightly to fle, Þey leften al, & fledde to þe se. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 688 He made non abode, Bot wyȝtly went hys way. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 3226 in Macro Plays 173 Now go we hens wytly to þe Trinite. c 1500 Smith & Dame (Copland) A iij b, Croked I was truely Now may I walke wyghtly. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 5 Day, that was, is wightly past. 1583 tr. Maison Neuve's Gerileon i. 8 The good king Floridamant..wightly forsaking the Saddle, set foote on ground. a 1650 Sir Cawline x. in Child Ballads iii. 58 But rise vp wightlye, man, for shame! Neuer lye here soe cowardlye. 1757 W. Thompson Poems, Nativity i, Wightly his Senses all were rapt into a Dream. 1884 D. Grant Lays 75 Wichtly Dobbin reached the Kirkton. |