Word Meanings - LIGHTLY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. With little weight; with little force; as, to tread lightly; to press lightly. Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be drest, And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast. Pope. Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touched lightly. Milton.

Additional info about word: LIGHTLY

1. With little weight; with little force; as, to tread lightly; to press lightly. Yet shall thy grave with rising flowers be drest, And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast. Pope. Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touched lightly. Milton. 2. Swiftly; nimbly; with agility. So mikle was that barge, it might not lightly sail. R. of Brunne. Watch what thou seest and lightly bring me word. Tennyson. 3. Without deep impression. The soft ideas of the cheerful note, Lightly received, were easily forgot. Prior. 4. In a small degree; slightly; not severely. At the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun . . . and afterward did more grievously afflict her. Is. ix. 1. 5. With little effort or difficulty; easily; readily. That lightly come, shall lightly go. Old Proverb. They come lightly by the malt, and need not spare it. Sir W. Scott. 6. Without reason, or for reasons of little weight. Flatter not the rich, neither do thou willingly or lightly appear before great personages. Jer. Taylor. 7. Commonly; usually. Bp. Fisher. The great thieves of a state are lightly the officers of the crown. B. Jonson. 8. Without dejection; cheerfully. "Seeming to bear it lightly." Shak. 9. Without heed or care; with levity; gayly; airily. Matrimony . . . is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly. Book of Common Prayer . 10. Not chastely; wantonly. Swift.

Related words: (words related to LIGHTLY)

• FORCE
  To stuff; to lard; to farce. Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit. Shak.
• GREENLANDER
  A native of Greenland.
• GREENLET
  l. One of numerous species of small American singing birds, of the genus Vireo, as the solitary, or blue-headed (Vireo solitarius); the brotherly-love ; the warbling greenlet ; the yellow-throated greenlet and others. See Vireo. 2. Any species
• RIS
  A bough or branch; a twig. As white as is the blossom upon the ris. Chaucer.
• GRAVES
  The sediment of melted tallow. Same as Greaves.
• GRAVEDIGGER
  See T (more info) 1. A digger of graves.
• INTENTIONALITY
  The quality or state of being intentional; purpose; design. Coleridge.
• SHALLOP
  A boat. thrust the shallop from the floating strand. Spenser. Note: The term shallop is applied to boats of all sizes, from a light canoe up to a large boat with masts and sails.
• GREENSAND
  A variety of sandstone, usually imperfectly consolidated, consisting largely of glauconite, a silicate of iron and potash of a green color, mixed with sand and a trace of phosphate of lime. Note: Greensand is often called marl, because
• GREENFISH
  See POLLOCK
• GREENOCKITE
  Native cadmium sulphide, a mineral occurring in yellow hexagonal crystals, also as an earthy incrustation.
• RISIBLE
  1. Having the faculty or power of laughing; disposed to laugh. Laughing is our busines, . . . it has been made the definition of man that he is risible. Dr. H. More. 2. Exciting laughter; worthy to be laughed at; amusing. "Risible absurdities."
• GREENHOUSE
  A house in which tender plants are cultivated and sheltered from the weather.
• RISQUE; RISQUEE
  Hazardous; risky; esp., fig., verging upon impropriety; dangerously close to, or suggestive of, what is indecent or of doubtful morality; as, a risqué story. Henry Austin.
• GREENWEED
  See GREENBROOM
• GRAVEL
  A deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom. Gravel powder, a coarse gunpowder; pebble powder. (more info) strand; of Celtic origin; cf. Armor.
• RIST
  3d pers. sing. pres. of Rise, contracted from riseth. Chaucer.
• GREENHORN
  A raw, inexperienced person; one easily imposed upon. W. Irving.
• GREEN-STALL
  A stall at which greens and fresh vegetables are exposed for sale.
• LITTLENESS
  The state or quality of being little; as, littleness of size, thought, duration, power, etc. Syn. -- Smallness; slightness; inconsiderableness; narrowness; insignificance; meanness; penuriousness.
• HORRISONOUS
  Sounding dreadfully; uttering a terrible sound. Bailey.
• ENTERPRISER
  One who undertakes enterprises. Sir J. Hayward.
• TRISYLLABIC; TRISYLLABICAL
  Of or pertaining to a trisyllable; consisting of three syllables; as, "syllable" is a trisyllabic word. -- Tris`yllab"ic*al*ly, adv.
• GRISLY
  Frightful; horrible; dreadful; harsh; as, grisly locks; a grisly specter. "Grisly to behold." Chaucer. A man of grisly and stern gravity. Robynson . Grisly bear. See under Grizzly. (more info) gro shudder; cf. OD. grijselick horrible,
• CHICKEN-BREASTED
  Having a narrow, projecting chest, caused by forward curvature of the vertebral column.
• CHARACTERISTIC
  Pertaining to, or serving to constitute, the character; showing the character, or distinctive qualities or traits, of a person or thing; peculiar; distinctive. Characteristic clearness of temper. Macaulay.
• GRISTMILL
  A mill for grinding grain; especially, a mill for grinding grists, or portions of grain brought by different customers; a custom mill.
• SPAGYRIST
  1. A chemist, esp. one devoted to alchemistic pursuits. 2. One of a sect which arose in the days of alchemy, who sought to discover remedies for disease by chemical means. The spagyrists historically preceded the iatrochemists. Encyc. Brit.
• LUTHERANISM; LUTHERISM
  The doctrines taught by Luther or held by the Lutheran Church.
• METAPHORIST
  One who makes metaphors.
• ARTILLERIST
  A person skilled in artillery or gunnery; a gunner; an artilleryman.
• TANTRISM
  The system of doctrines and rites taught in the tantras. -- Tan"trist , n.
• COUNTER WEIGHT
  A counterpoise.
• IMPARISYLLABIC
  Not consisting of an equal number of syllables; as, an imparisyllabic noun, one which has not the same number of syllables in all the cases; as, lapis, lapidis; mens, mentis.
• PERISTALSIS
  Peristaltic contraction or action.