cheerly

comparative more cheerly · comparative cheerlier · superlative most cheerly · superlative cheerliest

1. archaicCheerful, gay; not gloomy.

   Wel ſaid, thou look'ſt cheerely, / And Ile be with thee quickly: yet thou lieſt / In the bleake aire.

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 192, column 2

   1 more example

   The first thing that roused me from my meditations, was a cheerly voice that saluted me as I was approaching Tattersall's; round whose gates a detachment of tilburies, stanhopes, and led-horses were clustered."

   1841, Mrs. Gore [i.e., Catherine Grace Frances], Cecil: Or, The Adventures of a Coxcomb: A Novel, volume I, page 100

comparative more cheerly · comparative cheerlier · superlative most cheerly · superlative cheerliest

1. archaicCheerily, cheerfully, heartily; briskly.

   Oft liſt'ning hovv the Hounds and horn, / Chearly rouſe the ſlumbring morn, […]

   a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 32

   3 more examples

   My louing Lord, I take my leaue of you, [...] Not ſicke, although I haue to do with death, / But luſtie, yong, and cheerely drawing breath.

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 26, column 1

   What matters me who wears the crown of France? / Whether a Richard or a Charles possess it? / They reap the glory—they enjoy the spoil— / We pay—we bleed!—The sun would shine as cheerly, / The rains of heaven as seasonably fall, / Tho' neither of these royal pests existed.

   1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC, Act I, page 6

   He cheerly passes, quaffs the social glass, Propines the winds, or toasts some blooming lass.

   1818, Archibald Johnston, The Mariner: A Poem in Two Cantos, page 15

   Synonyms: gaily, mirthfully, blessedly, bubblingly, chearfully, cheerfully, cheerily, eudaemonically