seely
Americanadjective
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insignificant or feeble; poor.
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happy; auspicious.
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good; pious; blessed.
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foolish; simple-minded.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of seely
before 1000; Middle English sely, Old English gesǣlig happy, equivalent to sǣl happiness + -ig -y 1; cognate with Dutch zalig, German selig; akin to Old Norse sæll, Gothic sēls good, Old English sēl better; see silly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An how can you, a seely man, Jitch seely journey make?
From The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire by James Jennings
"His marks and his tokens are known very well; He always is led with a dog and a bell: A seely old man, God knoweth, is he, Yet he is the father of pretty Bessee."
From A Bundle of Ballads by Henry Morley
Mary’s grace a seely boatOn Christchurch bar did lie afloat;He gave the shipmen mark and groat,To ferry him over to Normandie,And there he fell to sanctuarie;God send his soul all bliss to see.
From Andromeda and Other Poems by Charles Kingsley
But as it fell out on last Hallow-even, When the seely court was ridin’ by, The queen lighted down on a gowany bank, Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye.
From Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Second Series by Frank Sidgwick
Sacre! but you drive me cr-r-r-azy weet your seely tricks.
From Army Boys in France or, From Training Camp to Trenches by Homer Randall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
