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Webster 1913 Edition


Goodly

Good′ly

,
adv.
Excellently.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Good′ly

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Goodlier
;
sup
erl.
Goodliest
.]
[OE.
godlich
, AS.
gōdlic
. See
Good
, and
Like
.]
1.
Pleasant; agreeable; desirable.
We have many
goodly
days to see.
Shakespeare
2.
Of pleasing appearance or character; comely; graceful;
as, a
goodly
person;
goodly
raiment, houses.
The
goodliest
man of men since born.
Milton.
3.
Large; considerable; portly;
as, a
goodly
number
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Goodly

GOOD'LY

,
adv.
Excellently.

GOOD'LY

,
Adj.
Being of a handsome form; beautiful; graceful; as a goodly person; goodly raiment; goodly houses.
1.
Pleasant; agreeable; desirable; as goodly days.
2.
Bulky; swelling; affectedly turgid.

Definition 2024


goodly

goodly

English

Adjective

goodly (comparative goodlier, superlative goodliest)

  1. (archaic) Good, pleasing in appearance.
    • Algernon Charles Swinburne, A Ballad of Death, lines 26–27
      O Sin, thou knowest that all thy shame in her
      Was made a goodly thing
  2. (archaic) Quite large; considerable.
    a goodly sum of money
    walking at a goodly pace

Etymology 2

From Middle English goodly, goodliche, gōdliche, from Old English gōdlīċe (goodly), from the adjective, equivalent to good + -ly. Cognate with Middle High German guotlīche, güetlīche.

Adverb

goodly (comparative goodlier, superlative goodliest)

  1. (obsolete) In a goodly way; courteously, graciously.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xxij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:
      Thenne he sente for the thre knyghtes & they came afore hym / and he cryed hem mercy of that he had done to them / and they forgaf hit hym goodely and he dyed anone / Whanne the kynge was dede / alle the cyte was desmayed and wyst not who myghte be her kynge
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ix:
      Goodly she entertaind those noble knights, / And brought them vp into her castle hall [].
  2. (obsolete) Excellently.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)