Dictionary

blackly en · ADV

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈblækli/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *blakaz Proto-West Germanic *blak Old English blæc Middle English blak English black Middle English -ly English -ly English blackly From black + -ly.

Meanings

1. With a black appearance.
   • Here and there, sun glanced off water, and slick surfaces shone blackly orange in the morning light. 2011, T. J. Forrester, Miracles, Inc., page 37:
   • Not far from the sea water and in the lee of a great rock rising blackly out of the ice, a herd of walrus lay basking in the sun[…] 1930, Alice Alison Lide, Margaret Alison Johansen, chapter VI, in Ood-le-uk the Wanderer, pages 78-79:
2. Darkly or gloomily.
   • Maccario, it was evident, did not care to take the risk of blundering upon a picket, and a man led them by twisting paths until at last the hacienda rose blackly before them. 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 26, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:
   • One of the most interesting — and confusing — vampire stories to deal with questions of morality in the postmodern context is the blackly comic film Vampire's Kiss (dir. Robert Bierman, 1988), which tells of a despicable yuppie named Peter Low — played in completely over-the-top fashion by Nicholas Cage — and his encounter at a singles bar with the vampire Rachel. 1997, Joan Gordon, Veronica Hollinger, Blood Read: The Vampire as Metaphor in Contemporary Culture:
3. Wickedly.
   • He knew himself for a lost soul, and all that he loved in the world was out in the tides. There, at any rate, he could go, too, and give back that gift of life he had so blackly misused. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
4. In accordance with black cultural sensibility.
   • Maya Angelou's ecomium^([sic])/tribute set the tone for all that followed because she spoke so passionately, personally, and Blackly about her love for Baldwin. She said that it's easy for a woman to find a lover, that she could stand on any street corner or even sit in any church pew and do that, but that brothers were much harder to come by. 1987 December 20, Barbara Smith, “We Must Always Bury Our Dead Twice”, in Gay Community News, volume 15, number 23, page 10:

Forms

Synonyms

ebonly

Translations (1)

eo nigre (blackly)