English edit

Etymology edit

farrand +‎ -ly

Adjective edit

farantly (comparative more farantly, superlative most farantly)

  1. (obsolete, dialect, Northern England) Good-looking; respectable.
    • 1876, Ebenezer Elliott, “The Gipsy (XIV)”, in Edwin Elliott, editor, The Poetical Works of Ebenezer Elliott, volume 2, page 329:
      I wish her no harm, with her blushes of brass;
      But she may have six twins in three years,
      And corrupt every farantly neighbour she has,
      Setting them and their wives by the ears.
    • 1893, Benjamin Brierley, “Johnny an' Peggy”, in Spring Blossoms and Autumn Leaves, page 79:
      [in strong Lancashire-dialect pronunciation spelling]
      “‘An' if hoo doesno' come for that,
      There's lots on Bowman's Lea
      As farrantly an' good as hoo,
      Ut would be preawd o' thee.”
    • 1894, Samuel Laycock, “Mi Gronny”, in Warblin's Fro' an Owd Songster:
      [in strong Lancashire-dialect pronunciation spelling]
      Aw wur theer t' other neet, an' aw thowt to misel'
      God bless her! hoo's farantly lookin'!
      I was there the other night, and I thought to myself,
      God bless her! She's farantly looking.

Adverb edit

farantly (comparative more farantly, superlative most farantly)

  1. (obsolete) In a respectable manner.
    • 1821, N.A., The Life of a Boy:
      I remember hearing my mother say that her cousin, John Fell, married a young body fro' Egremont; and she had no way o' her ain, and never got into theirs, so there was nothing done farantly.
    • 1870, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant in the East, page 38:
      The lancinations maugre all my epulotic appliances sphacelated — interrosseal and cervical inturgescence induced angina, followed by lethality; I contumulated him farantly in a litten .
    • 1924, G. B. Stuart, “The Deacon's Window”, in The English Review, volume 39, page 717:
      But the Bishop, that courteous man of God, saluted the young man, right farantly []