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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

selfly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɛlfli/

Etymology

From Middle English selfly, from Old English selflīċ (“automatic, spontaneous, voluntary”); equivalent to self + -ly.

Meanings

  1. Of or pertaining to self or one's own self, personal.
    • This denotes and declares the divided tongues, where every property had brought itself forth out of the universal sensual tongue into a selfishness and a peculiar selfly understanding, so that they did not any longer understand one another […] 2001, Jed Rasula, Steve McCaffery, Imagining Language: An Anthology:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most selfly Degree=Sup lexicographic
more selfly Degree=Cmp lexicographic

selfly en · ADV

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsɛlfli/

Etymology

From Middle English selfly, from Old English selflīċ (“automatic, spontaneous, voluntary”); equivalent to self + -ly.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) In, of, or by one's self; of one's own accord, voluntary, automatic.
    • Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light 1880, Josuah Sylvester, The complete works of Joshuah Sylvester: