English

Alternative forms

• gley

Adverb

agley ‎(comparative more agley, superlative most agley)

1. (chiefly Scotland) Wrong in the sense of awry, askew, amiss, or distorted.
   • 1932, Rosewell Page, The Iliads of the South: an epic of the War Between the States, Garrett and Massie, p. 165:

     X tells of cavalry; of Sheridan, Hampton and Fitz Lee;

     Of Early’s Valley march, that Sheridan long held agley!

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “chapter XII and XV”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     “I don't know if you know the meaning of the word ‘agley’, Kipper, but that, to put it in a nutshell, is the way things have ganged.”

   • 2002, Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross, p. 29:

     We meant to sail from Charleston, but things went agley there, and so we’re bound for Portsmouth now, as fast as we can make speed.

Usage notes

The word was popularised by Robert Burns in his 1785 Scots poems “To a Mouse”, in the much-quoted line “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”. This line is often quoted, and the word agley is occasionally used in modern English, primarily in variants of this line, such as “our plans have gone agley” or “things went agley”.

Adjective

agley ‎(comparative more agley, superlative most agley)

1. (Scotland) Wrong; askew.
   • 1983, Alasdair Gray, ‘The Great Bear Cult’, Canongate 2012 (Every Short Story 1951-2012), p. 57:

     But though the bear in the picture was a disguised man he appeared so naturally calm, so benignly strong, that beside him Pete […] looked comparatively shifty and agley.

Anagrams

• Gayle

Scots

Etymology

From a- +‎ gley.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɡliː/, /əˈɡləi/

Adverb

agley ‎(comparative mair agley, superlative maist agley)

1. asquint; astray, off the straight
   • 1785, Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”:

     The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley