sely

English

Alternative forms

• celi, cely, seli, silly, seely

Etymology

From Middle English sely, from Old English sǣliġ (“blessed, fortunate”), (also gesǣliġ (“happy, prosperous, blessed, fortunate”)), from Proto-West Germanic *sālīg (“happy”). Equivalent to seel +‎ -y.

Adjective

sely (comparative selier, superlative seliest)

1. Obsolete form of silly.
2. (archaic) spiritually favored, blessed, holy, virtuous, righteous
3. (archaic) worthy, noble, fine, excellent

   • the sely man — the goodman, husband

4. (archaic) fortunate, lucky, prosperous
   • c. 1374–1385 (date written)​, Geffray Chaucer [i.e., Geoffrey Chaucer], “The House of Fame”, in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London: […] Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], published 1542, →OCLC:

     Now at erste shul ye here So sely an avisyon That..Scipion..Ne mette such a drem.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (archaic) happy, pleasant
6. (archaic) wealthy (figurative)
7. (archaic) innocent, harmless; good
8. (archaic) simple, guileless; foolish, gullible; doting; ignorant
9. (archaic) weak, helpless, defenseless, hapless
10. (archaic) wretched, unfortunate, miserable, pitiable
11. (archaic) humble, lowly, poor
12. (archaic) worthless, trifling, insignificant

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “sely”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

• Middle English Dictionary

Anagrams

• Slye, leys, lyes, lyse, sley, syle

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛlɪ]
• Rhymes: -ɛlɪ
• Hyphenation: se‧ly
• Homophone: seli

Verb

sely

1. inflection of sít:
   1. inanimate masculine plural past participle
   2. feminine plural past participle

Noun

sely

1. instrumental plural of selo

Anagrams

• Elsy
• lesy