needly
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English needely, neodliche, from Old English nēodlīċe (“eagerly, earnestly, carefully, zealously, diligently, sedulously; greatly”); equivalent to need (“desire”) + -ly. Cognate with Old Saxon niudlīko (“zealously, carefully”), German niedlich (“desirable, appealing, lovely, cute”).
Adverb
needly (comparative needlier or more needly, superlative needliest or most needly)
Etymology 2
From Middle English needely, nedelich, from Old English *nīedlīċe (“necessarily”), from nīedlīc (“necessary”); equivalent to need (“necessity, need”) + -ly. Merged with Etymology 1 above. Cognate with Middle Dutch nodelike, Middle Low German nōtliken, Middle High German nōtliche.
Adverb
needly (comparative needlier or more needly, superlative needliest or most needly)
- (archaic) Necessarily; of necessity.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- (archaic) Urgently.
Etymology 3
Adjective
needly (comparative needlier or more needly, superlative needliest or most needly)
- (informal) Like a needle or needles.
- a needly horn; a needly beard
- (Can we find and add a quotation of R. D. Blackmore to this entry?)
Synonyms
Anagrams
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms suffixed with -ly
- English lemmas
- English adverbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- Requests for quotations/Shakespeare
- English terms suffixed with -y
- English adjectives
- English informal terms
- Requests for quotations/R. D. Blackmore