inly

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English inly, from Old English inlīc (“inner, inward”), equivalent to in +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnli/
• Rhymes: -ɪnli

Adjective

inly (comparative more inly, superlative most inly)

1. (obsolete) Inward; interior; secret.
   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:

     Didst thou but know the inly touch of love
     Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow
     As seek to quench the fire of love with words.

Etymology 2

From Middle English inly, inliche, from Old English inlīċe (“inwardly”), equivalent to in +‎ -ly.

Adverb

inly (comparative more inly, superlative most inly)

1. (now rare) Inwardly, within; internally; secretly.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     I have inly wept,
     Or should have spoke ere this.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 441–444:

     His offering soon propitious fire from heaven / Consumed with nimble glance, and grateful steam; / The other's not, for his was not sincere; / Whereat he inly raged,

   • 1738, Paul Gerhardt, “Thou Hidden Love of God”, in John Wesley, transl., The Wesleyan Methodist Hymn Book‎^[1], London, published 1869, page 325:

     Thou hidden love of God, whose height, / Whose depth unfathom'd no man knows; I see from far they beauteous light, / Inly I sigh for thy repose:

   • 1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “35”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume II, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:

     His heart inly relented,—there was a conflict,—but sin got the victory, and he set all the force of his rough nature against the conviction of his conscience.

   • 1852, Matthew Arnold, “Human Life”, in The Poems of Matthew Arnold, 1840-1867‎^[2], Oxford University Press, published 1909, lines 1–6:

     What mortal, when he saw, / Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend, / Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly: / 'I have kept uninfring'd my nature's law; / The inly-written chart thou gavest me / To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end'?

   • 1909, Thomas Hardy, “The Flirt's Tragedy”, in Time's Laughingstocks and Other Verses‎^[3], London: Macmillan & Co., published 1928:

     Thus tempted, the lust to avenge me / Germed inly and grew.

   • 1914, Rabindranath Tagore, The King of the Dark Chamber‎^[4], New York: Macmillan, page 132:

     A mighty forest inly smokes and smoulders before it bursts into a conflagration:

2. (obsolete) Heartily, completely, fully, thoroughly; extremely.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Ne was their salue, ne was their medicine, / That mote recure their wounds: so inly they did tine.

Anagrams

• lyin'

Middle English

Adverb

inly

1. heartily; completely
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, The Friar's Tale, [5]

     And they were inly glad to fill his purse,
     And make him greate feastes at the nale.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)