villainly

comparative more villainly · superlative most villainly

1. Characteristic of a villain.

   Strikingly effective performance as the villainly Vitellia…

   1969 October, The Telegraph, quotee, Musical America, published 1970, page 166

   5 more examples

   By the ox of St. Luke, thou idle, cogging knave—thou rascally, miscreant spy, if ever I catch thee dogging my footsteps, by day or night, or concerning thyself in any way about act of mine, I will think no more of drawing my dagger across thy villainly throat, than I would of slicing a melon or cucumber at my luncheon.

   1853, Robert Bigsby, Ombo. A Dramatic Romance, in Twelve Acts., London: Edward T. Whitfield; Derby: Richard Keene, act IV, scene 4, page 93

   And though he has paid the penalty of his crime with his worthless life, yet many of his compeers in villainly adventure still live, and his daring and sworn associates are scattered throughout the northern portion of this land;

   1860 January 19, John Herbert Claiborne, “Politics of the Ante-Bellum Period”, in Seventy-Five Years in Old Virginia with Some Account of the Life of the Author and Some History of the People Amongst Whom His Lot Was Cast,—Their Character, Their Condition, and Their Conduct Before the War, During the War and After the War, New York, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.: The Neale Publishing Company, published 1904, page 149

   Shirley’s is a world of young lovers, delightfully protesting their eternal constancy, of villainly villains, of unscrupulous servants, and of “humour” characters such as seize and transport the imagination:[…]

   1951, W. H. S. Jones, The Story of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd., page 153

   During the hours the villainly Mandel Pukur fellows kept us standing I became exceedingly thirsty, and also hungry, but gradually the need to urinate became of even more pressing urgency.

   1987, Sara Banerji, chapter 14, in The Wedding of Jayanthi Mandel, Bloomsbury Reader, published 2012, →ISBN

   Emphases were given to the description of the actors' facial features and expression to fit the characters into righteous, moral and energetic types, as contrasted with the landlords' villainly physical appearance.

   1988, Eleventh IAHA Conference: Session VIII (A, B, and C), page 32

   Synonyms: villainous, villainy

comparative more villainly · superlative most villainly

1. In the manner of a villain.

   […]and the characters around the handsome samurai Nagoya Sanza and his rival, the villainly attractive Fuwa Banzaemon.

   2004, 歌舞伎公演, 国立劇場, page 67

   5 more examples

   And whan they vnderstode this they walked fast, & cam nigħ to the bridge, and sawe thre cristen that were 28 ouerthrawen on the bridge by strokkes of speerys. ‘Fourth,’ said then one of them, ‘we tary to longe perceyue you not how this Dogges oppressen vylaynly these valyaunt & worthy crystens?’ and anone they 32 bended þeir crosbowes, & shot ałł ones and ouerthrewe doun on the bridge fro theire horses with that first shotte xxiiᵗⁱ paynemys.

   c. 1500, “How Uryan & Guyon tooke leue of theire moder Melusyne and entred theire ship”, in A. K. Donald, editor, Melusine. Compiled (1382-1394 A.D.) by Jean d’Arras; Englisht about 1500. Edited from a Unique Manuscript in the Library of the British Museum, part I (Text, Notes, and Glossary), London: Publisht for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., published 1895, page lines 26–35, page 130

   My fortune them withstands, and I lykewyse may destnies vouche To kyl that cursyd brood, and for my spouse vproote them quyte. Nor not alone this grief doth Agamemnons kindred byte: Nor Greeks haue onely cause for wedlock spoyle them selfs to arme. Yet had it bin ynough to stroy them ones, if but one harme Suffized had their sinne, and not with spyte all female kinds Thus villaynly disdain? what? doth this half trench puff their mynds?

   a. 1560, Virgill, Thomas Phaër, transl., “The Ninth Booke of the Aeneidos of Uirgil”, in The Whole .xii. Bookes of the Æneidos of Virgill, London: […] Wyllyam How, for Abraham Veale, published 1573

   Law, boaſts it’s pillars upright, liberal, great! Abilities, enhanc’d by virtues rare! Who villainly hurl headlong from it’s ſeat, And ſuffering merit make their ſpecial care.

   1793, J[ames] C[artwright] Cross, The Insolvent Debtor: A Simple Pathetic Tale, Founded on Facts. To Which Is Added, a Small Collection of Miscellaneous Poetry., Salisbury: Printed for […], page 4

   Ah, noble king, for God’s sake refrain your courage, ye have the name of sovereign noblesse, therefore now do not a thing that should blemish your renown, not to give cause to some to speak of you villainly.

   1936, Arthur Stanley, The Testament of Man: An Anthology of the Spirit, Victor Gollancz, page 249

   This divine site of the nativity has been villainly usurped by the schismatic Greeks, and now the Catholic priest is forbidden to say Mass thereat.

   1960, Impresiones de un viajero: viaje por varios paises del Oriente, Europa, Tierra Santa y Norteamerica, 1958, Jaro, Iloilo City: Catholic Publishing House, page 206

   Synonyms: villainously