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agley

or a·gly

[ uh-glee, uh-gley, uh-glahy ]

adverb

, Chiefly Scot.
  1. off the right line; awry; wrong.


agley

/ əˈɡliː; əˈɡliː; əˈɡleɪ; əˈɡlaɪ /

adverb

  1. awry; askew
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of agley1

1775–85; a- 1 + gley glee 2
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Word History and Origins

Origin of agley1

from gley squint
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Example Sentences

We believed in family planning, but, as poet Robert Burns noted in his rustic dialect: “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”

Our schemes were wonderfully — but exhaustingly — agley.

A classic example is the poetry of Robert Burns, who wrote “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men/ Gang aft agley.”

From Slate

But the best-laid plans of aardvarks and astrophysicists oft go agley.

An attempt to pull the magnets out with pliers also went agley when the tool itself became magnetized, leading to some spooky nose action at a rather small distance—think of a diminutive metal wand with a sole magic power: the ability to move your nose around from an inch away.

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