bigly

[ big-lee ]

/ ˈbɪg li /

Archaic.

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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.

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Origin of bigly

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English ; see big¹ + -ly

historical usage of bigly

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.

Words nearby bigly

bigleaf maple, big league, big leaguer, big-leaved magnolia, big lie, bigly, big mama, big media, big money, bigmouth, bigmouth buffalofish

How to use bigly in a sentence

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
The quick strokes of the paddle-wheels whitened the waters;—the sail bellied bigly to the wind.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848|Various
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
Though thin, the man was bigly built, with broad shoulders and well-developed limbs, measuring a trifle under six feet in height.
The Yellow God|H. Rider Haggard

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