archly

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English

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Etymology 1

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From arch +‎ -ly.

Adverb

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archly (comparative more archly, superlative most archly)

  1. In an arch manner; slyly.
    • 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: [] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] [], →OCLC:
      Phoebe lay down by me, and ask'd me archly if, now that I had seen the enemy, and fully considered him, I was still afraid of him?
    • 2022, China Miéville, chapter 6, in A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto, →OCLC:
      Though he intends it destructively, Rothbard is right that there are relations between the millennial hope for justice he archly calls KGE—Kingdom of God on Earth—and communism.
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Adverb

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archly (not comparable)

  1. In the form of an arch.
    • 1984 April 14, Freddie Greenfield, “Spoiling the View”, in Gay Community News, page 19:
      My eyebrows recently plucked archly.