ladily en · ADJ · etymology 1
Etymology
From Middle English ladily, ladyly; equivalent to lady + -ly (adjectival suffix).
Meanings
-
Of or having the qualities of a lady.
[…]gentlemanly and ladily etchings of “Colonel Jack Robbing Mrs Smith” or “Captain Hind Robbing Colonel Harrison” (using the same stage-like scenery) are matched in American legend (see Carol Strickland’s article) by the fictions of “the iconography of mourning” in the graveyard[…]
1976, Bulletin of the New York Public Library, page 121:The healer of the sick, whether physician or veterinarian, can by certain known remedies allay the irritations arising from merely functional derangements, but when the sable king in his ladily aspect and with fatal fangs approaches, skill is at once absorbed, and the ‘medicine man’ stands before the ‘grisly monster,’ a spectacle of utter impotency.
1881 November 8, “Homo”, The Veterinary Journal and Annals of Comparative Pathlogy, volume XIV, London: Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, […], published 1882, page 308:His wife is a fine looking woman, ladily and dignified in her expression and bearing.[…]She sent me some tea-cakes by her grandma, Mrs. Cartwright, an energetic, kind hearted, sensible and ladily woman.
1984, Yun Chi-ho’s Diary, volume 2, pages 214 and 324:But will the suppression of the population of the poor, receive the sanction of any but the lordly or ladily aristocrat?
1830, Robert Dale Owen Unmasked by His Own Pen. Showing His Unqualified Approbation of a Most Obscenely Indelicate Work Entitled, “What Is Love, or, Every Woman’s Book.” […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles N. Baldwin, page 11:Her gait / Is slow-sharp and ladily and / Interestingly very natural.
2013, Joe Tshabalala, “The Queen-like Sister of Ward Twelve”, in Simonne Horwitz, Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto: A History of Medical Care 1941–1990, Wits University Press, →ISBN:Even among the most lordly or (or “ladily”) of mankind, painting of the skin is still de riguener with the female sex.
1971, Hobbies, page 144:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| most ladily | Degree=Sup | lexicographic | |
| ladyly | alternative | lexicographic | |
| more ladily | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic |