peaceably

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English pesibly; equivalent to peaceable +‎ -ly.

Adverb

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peaceably (comparative more peaceably, superlative most peaceably)

  1. In a peaceable manner.
    • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Great Love of His Native Country. []”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. [] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: [] Benj[amin] Motte, [], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page 258:
      For, if (ſaid he) you throw among five Yahoos as much Food as would be ſufficient for fifty, they will, inſtead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each ſingle one impatient to have all to itſelf; []
    • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter V, in The French Revolution: A History [], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book III (The Parliament of Paris), page 85:
      Men in helmets have divided that, with swords; men in wigs, with quill and inkhorn, to divide it: and even more hateful these latter, if more peaceably; for the wig-method is at once irresistibler and baser.
    • 2022 July 11, Joan Vennochi, “For a Supreme Court justice, it can’t be ‘privacy for me’ and no right of protest for thee”, in The Boston Globe:
      All the buck-passing shows a healthy reluctance to shut down free speech, which unlike the right to eat dinner, is explicitly cited in the Constitution, along with the right to peaceably assemble.

Translations

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