cheerly

English

Etymology 1

From cheer +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)li
  • Hyphenation: cheer‧ly

Adjective

cheerly (comparative more cheerly or cheerlier, superlative most cheerly or cheerliest)

  1. (archaic) Cheerful, gay; not gloomy.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 192, column 2:
      Wel ſaid, thou look'ſt cheerely, / And Ile be with thee quickly: yet thou lieſt / In the bleake aire.
    • 1841, Mrs. Gore [i.e., Catherine Grace Frances], Cecil: Or, The Adventures of a Coxcomb: A Novel, volume I, page 100:
      The first thing that roused me from my meditations, was a cheerly voice that saluted me as I was approaching Tattersall's; round whose gates a detachment of tilburies, stanhopes, and led-horses were clustered."

Etymology 2

From Middle English cheerly, cherly, cherely, cheerliche, equivalent to cheer +‎ -ly.

Adverb

cheerly (comparative more cheerly or cheerlier, superlative most cheerly or cheerliest)

  1. (archaic) Cheerily, cheerfully, heartily; briskly.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 26, column 1:
      My louing Lord, I take my leaue of you, [...] Not ſicke, although I haue to do with death, / But luſtie, yong, and cheerely drawing breath.
    • 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 6:
      What matters me who wears the crown of France? / Whether a Richard or a Charles possess it? / They reap the glory—they enjoy the spoil— / We pay—we bleed!—The sun would shine as cheerly, / The rains of heaven as seasonably fall, / Tho' neither of these royal pests existed.
    • 1818, Archibald Johnston, The Mariner: A Poem in Two Cantos, page 15:
      He cheerly passes, quaffs the social glass,
      Propines the winds, or toasts some blooming lass.

Anagrams
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