Dictionary

stably en · ADV · etymology 1

Etymology

Etymology tree English stable Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly English -ly English stably From stable + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a stable manner.
   • [K]ing Edwarde [IV] returned, and wͭ much leſſe nũber thẽ [number then [than]] he had, at Barnet on theſtre daye felde [the Easter Day field], ſlewe the Erle of warwik [Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick] wͭ many other great eſtates of yͤ partie, ⁊ ſo ſtably attained the crowne againe, that he peaſſybly enioyed it vntil his dieng day: […] c. 1513 (date written), Thomas More, “The History of King Richard the Thirde (Vnfinished) […]”, 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 60:
   • The new procedures for money market operations continue to be in place until the consumer price index (excluding perishables, on a nationwide statistics) registers stably a zero percent or an increase year on year. 2001, Bank of Japan, New Procedures for Money Market Operations and Monetary Easing, March 19 2001

Forms

Antonyms

unstably

Deriveds

bistably

Translations (12)

pt estavelmente (in a stable manner) · de stabil (in a stable manner) · es establemente (in a stable manner) · gl establemente (in a stable manner) · da stabil (in a stable manner) · it stabilmente (in a stable manner) · hu stabilan (in a stable manner) · fr d’une manière stable (in a stable manner) · ca establement (in a stable manner) · cs stabilně (in a stable manner) · nl stabiel (in a stable manner) · bg стабилно (in a stable manner)

stably en · NOUN · etymology 2

Etymology

From Middle English stablie, from Anglo-Norman stablie.

Meanings

1. (historical, uncountable) A medieval hunting practice in which a group of hunters and hounds are stationed around the perimeter of a wood during a hunt to prevent the escape of the game.
   • As described in chapter three, classic bow and stably hunting in the later Middle Ages and early Renaissance involved hunters waiting on foot at stands or stations for the driven quarry to appear within bowshot. 2011, Richard Almond, Medieval Hunting, page 140:
   • Twiti's discussion of hunting deer with bow and a pack of greyhounds (or “stably”) to drive them past the waiting archers is similar, for example, to that in Gawain and the Green Knight, and such hunting practices are referred to in Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde, The Book of the Duchess, and The Franklin's Tale. 2011, John B. Friedman, review of: David Scott-Macnab, The Middle English Text of The Art of Hunting by William Twiti. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 110, no. 4, pp. 545-547
   • Additions to the present manuscript found in no other contemporary manuscripts include passages on blowing the "prise", an account of fox-hunting, and a section on hunting with bow and stably (in which deer are driven past ready bowmen). 2011, Yale University Library, notes on: William Twiti (d. 1328), The craft of venery