bonnily en · ADV
Etymology
From bonny + -ly.
Meanings
-
(Scotland) attractively; in a pleasant or pretty manner
Fareweel, my rhyme-compoſing billie! / Your native ſoil was right ill-willie; / But may ye flouriſh like a lily, / Now bonilie! / I'll toaſt ye in my hindmoſt gillie, / Tho' owre the Sea!
1786 July 31, Robert Burns, “On a Scotch Bard Gone to the West Indies”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire: Printed by John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock: James McKie, March 1867, →OCLC, page 184:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more bonnily | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most bonnily | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |