Dictionary

tidily en · ADV

Etymology

From Middle English tidili, tidily, equivalent to tidy + -ly.

Meanings

1. In a tidy manner; neatly; cleanly.
   • A pile of assorted kitchen gear—a heavy frypan dark with soot, several spoons and forks stuck tidily in a clean pot, a kettle as blackened as the frypan, and a large pot that tilted benignly to one side—rested against the side of the firepit. 2004, Faith Richardson, Fay Lapka Richardson, Hoverlight, page 200:
   • The rabbits barely acknowledged her, intent on cleaning themselves, nibbling their food, tidily excreting. 2018, Melanie Finn, The Underneath:
   • Bonnet drama, conversely, removes us tidily from any such responsibility to a world of rules and rituals, where everyone knows their place... 2000, Maureen Lipman, Lip Reading:
   • And a man mun keep watch at t mill toft / To stiddy his mouter-dish — help him to sift it, / And see it's o' tidily done 1875, William Dickinson, Cumbriana; Or, Fragments of Cumbrian Life, page 231:
2. (obsolete) seasonably; betimes
3. (obsolete) suitably; duly; favourably

Forms