Dreadly
adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 dreadful obsolete
"1652, Anonymous, "Christs Kingdome" in Eliza's Babes, Or, The Virgin's Offering, critical edition by L. E. Semler, Associated University Press, 2001, p. 73, lines 16-20, https://books.google.ca/books?id=C2_I9s7b3NwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false At thy approach, black shades did vanish, / And from my heart thou feare didst banish, / And in their room did light appear, / And joy instead of dreadly feare."
- 1 With dread. obsolete
"1641, Du Bartas His Diuine Weekes And Workes, translated by Josuah Sylvester, London: Robert Young, "The Captains. The Fourth Part of the Third Day of the II. Week," p. 181 https://books.google.ca/books?id=pcAFFu1rUqIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false So shall you see a Cloud-crown'd Hill somtime, / Torn from a greater by the waste of Time; / Dreadly to shake, and boundling down to hop, / And roaring, here it roules tall Cedars up;"
Example
More examples"1652, Anonymous, "Christs Kingdome" in Eliza's Babes, Or, The Virgin's Offering, critical edition by L. E. Semler, Associated University Press, 2001, p. 73, lines 16-20, https://books.google.ca/books?id=C2_I9s7b3NwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false At thy approach, black shades did vanish, / And from my heart thou feare didst banish, / And in their room did light appear, / And joy instead of dreadly feare."
Etymology
From Middle English dredli, dredlich, dredlyche, dredeliche, equivalent to dread + -ly.
From Middle English dredly, dredliche, equivalent to dread + -ly.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.