LIGHTLY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Lightly

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/lˈaɪtli/ Listen

adverb

Lightly adv.

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." "Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear Touched lightly."

2.

Swiftly; nimbly; with agility. "So mikle was that barge, it might not lightly sail." "Watch what thou seest and lightly bring me word."

3.

Without deep impression. "The soft ideas of the cheerful note, Lightly received, were easily forgot."

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."

5.

With little effort or difficulty; easily; readily. "That lightly come, shall lightly go." "They come lightly by the malt, and need not spare it."

6.

Without reason, or for reasons of little weight. "Flatter not the rich, neither do thou willingly or lightly appear before great personages."

7.

Commonly; usually. (Obs.) "The great thieves of a state are lightly the officers of the crown."

8.

Without dejection; cheerfully. "Seeming to bear it lightly."

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."

10.

Not chastely; wantonly.

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Etymology of 'Lightly'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lightly" Quotes from Famous Books

... is correct, my young friend," said the taller man, lightly. "We are the gentlemen who were forced to leave Zeisler so ...

— The Young Railroaders - Tales of Adventure and Ingenuity • Francis Lovell Coombs

... been in vain for Scrooge to plead that the weather and the hour were not adapted to pedestrian purposes; that the bed was warm, and the thermometer a long way below freezing; that he was clad but lightly in his slippers, dressing-gown, and night-cap; and that he had a cold upon him at that time. The grasp, though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be resisted. He rose; but, finding that the Spirit made towards the window, clasped its ...

— Short Stories Old and New • Selected and Edited by C. Alphonso Smith

... insects also cause the nuts to drop during July and August. However, pecan growers who wish to make the effort can time the first application accurately by spreading a sheet on the ground beneath an infested tree and lightly jarring the branches to dislodge the weevils. When the weevils are disturbed they fall and "play possum" and can be easily collected. When a minimum of six weevils can be taken by jarring the branches on any one tree, it is time to ...

— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the 44th Annual Meeting • Various

... stopped on a flat ledge and flung the big canteen she was carrying as far as she could up the arroyo. She then changed from her boots to the long-legged moccasins that she had hidden in one of the saddlebags. No less hastily she cut strips from the Navaho saddleblanket to tie over the pony's lightly shod hoofs. ...

— Bloom of Cactus • Robert Ames Bennet

... account of that, I can only see in the dark with it. I immediately turned my right eye downward and I looked! I distinctly saw a lady's hand reached out toward my robe in the darkness, and this hand took hold of it and jerked it lightly just like this." The "Reverend Swami" here illustrated, by slightly jerking his coat downward. It was very amusing to hear him, in great seriousness, relate this in his low and measured accents to his ...

— The Lock and Key Library/Real Life #2 • Julian Hawthorne

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