bigly

[ big-lee ]

/ ˈbɪg li /

Archaic.

adverb

in a big way; greatly: Their gifts made the children smile bigly. Aaron was tall for his age, and bigly built.

strongly; with violent force: Waves pounded bigly against our starboard side.

boastfully; haughtily: She pronounces her opinions bigly, as if they are divine mandates.

adjective

pleasantly habitable: a settlement of modest but bigly homes.

Nearby words

bighead, bighorn, bighorn mountains, bight, bigleaf maple, bigly, bigmouth, bigmouth buffalofish, bigmouthed, bigness, bignonia

Origin of bigly

1350–1400; Middle English; see big¹ + -ly

Usage note

Adding the suffix -ly is a thoroughly standard way to form an adverb from an adjective. However, although bigly was in use from about 1400 to the early 1900s, it never quite caught on in English, perhaps because the adjective big also quite adequately functions as an adverb: to win big.

Examples from the Web for bigly

He was well made, cleanly and bigly, and neither too young nor too old.
Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama|E. Cobham Brewer
A Beelzebub; he spake as bigly and fiercely as a soaken yeoman at an election feast,—this obedient and conducible youth!
Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare|Walter Savage Landor
He was bigly made and his legs and arms were round, bolster fashion—huge thighs and small ankles, thick arms and slender wrists.
Fortitude|Hugh Walpole
Fortune was of the same age as the priest: a bigly built, bold-looking young fellow, with skin already hardened.
Abbe Mouret's Transgression|Emile Zola

The painting was simply done, commencing with the point of interest, the masses put in bigly, the details worked into them.
The Life of James McNeill Whistler|Elizabeth Robins Pennell