grimly

comparative grimlier · superlative grimliest

1. archaicGrim-looking, grim-natured.

   In reality it was the most terrifying sight I had seen to date: two fried eggs decorated with ketchup, Tabasco and chopped chillis in the semblance of a pair of bloodshot eyes – I would as soon have eaten my own leg. I waved the grimly thing away.

   1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 94

   1 more example

   To hear her rant, one would have supposed, who had not seen him, that her lank-haired, grimly partner, was the prettiest youth in the county of Dublin, and that all the comely lasses in Chapelizod and the country round were sighing and setting caps at him […]

   1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

comparative more grimly · superlative most grimly

1. In a grim manner.

   He looked round and shouted grimly, "As soon as the gate is opened, you go out there - running."

   1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 63

   1 more example

   I looked out my window / The cloud was grimly forming / Waiting for the rain I saw / The one dark cloud forming

   1968, “Grimly Forming”, in Peter Vandergeler (lyrics), Conspicuous Only in Its Absence, performed by The Great Society

   Synonyms: grisly