dreadly

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English dredli, dredlich, dredlyche, dredeliche, equivalent to dread +‎ -ly.

Adjective

dreadly (comparative more dreadly, superlative most dreadly)

1. (obsolete) dreadful
   • 1652, Anonymous, "Christs Kingdome" in Eliza's Babes, Or, The Virgin's Offering, critical edition by L. E. Semler, Associated University Press, 2001, p. 73, lines 16-20, [1]

     At thy approach, black shades did vanish, / And from my heart thou feare didst banish, / And in their room did light appear, / And joy instead of dreadly feare.

   • 1770, Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, in The Poetical Works of Dr. Goldsmith, London: J. Osborne & T. Griffin, 1785, p. 44, [2]

     […] To distant climes, a dreadly scene, / Where half the convex world intrudes between, / To torrid tracts with fainting steps they go, / Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.

   • 1860, W. Charles Kent, “Infinitude (from Schiller)”, in The New Monthly Magazine‎^[3], volume 119, London: Chapman & Hall, page 88:

     Lo! 'mid the dreadly solitude a pilgrim form I see / Swift gliding towards me—

   • 1982, Roald Dahl, The BFG‎^[4], Penguin UK, published 2007:

     'The teeth of the dreadly viper is still sticking into me!' he yelled.

   • 1992, Kāmarūpa Anusandhān Samiti, The Journal of the Assam Research Society, page 12:

     Some practices are considered as essential for the attainment of an enlightened life but are looked upon as dreadly or extremely secret.

   • 2006, Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage, chapter 6, in The Fortifications of Paris, McFarland, page 25:

     The Normans made another dreadly appearance in 869, and as they were pagans they had no compunction about attacking, plundering and setting fire to the abbey of Saint-Germain-de-Prés.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     dreadly spectacle

Etymology 2

From Middle English dredly, dredliche, equivalent to dread +‎ -ly.

Adverb

dreadly (comparative more dreadly, superlative most dreadly)

1. (obsolete) With dread.
   • 1641, Du Bartas His Diuine Weekes And Workes, translated by Josuah Sylvester, London: Robert Young, "The Captains. The Fourth Part of the Third Day of the II. Week," p. 181 [5]

     So shall you see a Cloud-crown'd Hill somtime, / Torn from a greater by the waste of Time; / Dreadly to shake, and boundling down to hop, / And roaring, here it roules tall Cedars up;

   • 1752, William Mason, Elfrida: A Dramatic Poem‎^[6], London: John Knapton, published 1757, page 54:

     […] when high in Air / The chos'n Archangel rides, whose right hand weilds / Th'imperial standard of heav'n's providence, / Which dreadly sweeping thro' the vaulted sky / O'ershadows all creation.

   • 1833, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter IV, in Asmodeus At Large‎^[7], Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, page 81:

     His vast countenance was unutterably and dreadly calm;

   • 1883, Sophocles, “Oedipus the King”, in R. C. Jebb, transl., Sophocles: the Plays and Fragments‎^[8], Cambridge University Press, Part I, p. 103:

     Dreadly, in sooth, dreadly doth the wise augur move me, who approve not, nor am able to deny.

   • 1907, Robert W. Service, “The Land God Forgot”, in Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses‎^[9], New York: Barse & Hopkins, page 9:

     The lonely sunsets flare forlorn / Down valleys dreadly desolate;

   • 1934, George Orwell, chapter 17, in Burmese Days‎^[10]:

     He had turned dreadly pale.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “dreadly”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Adderly, Ledyard, draydel, laddery