charily

comparative more charily · superlative most charily

1. In a chary manner.

   […] all combined,—star, blossom, bird, Bring to it no such joy divine, As the first charily-utter'd word That falters from those lips of thine.

   1845, Frances Sargent Osgood, Poems (poem), To Little May Vincent

   2 more examples

   For these Tapparians have no brains. In lieu, they carry in one corner of their craniums, a drop or two of attar of roses; charily used, the supply being small. They are the victims of two incurable maladies: stone in the heart, and ossification of the head.

   1849, Herman Melville, Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC

   It grew colder. I kept the fire burning charily, feeding it, bit by bit, the scanty furniture that Norton had made with axe and hammer. I husbanded every bit, crouching over the merest spark of a flame, wrapping my thin body in robe and fur to conserve the precious warmth.

   1923, Ted Olson, Weird Tales, The Conquering Will