Meanings
comparative more wilily · superlative most wilily
- In a wily manner.
They did worke wilily, and went and made as if they had beene embaſſadours, and tooke old ſackes vpon their aſſes, and wine-bottels, old, and rent, and bound vp, […]
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joshua 9:41 more example
And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth.
1533 (date written), Thomas More, “The Debellacyon of Salem and Bizance […]. Chapter XVIJ.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1004, column 2
Origin
Cite this entry
wilily. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilily
“wilily.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilily. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wilily,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wilily.
Source: wilily on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.