merrily

From Middle English merily, from Old English myriġlīċe; equivalent to merry +‎ -ly.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹɪli/
• Hyphenation: mer‧ri‧ly

• Audio (US)

  (file)

merrily (comparative more merrily, superlative most merrily)

1. In a cheerful or merry way.
   • 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

     So quickly the poore mans ſubſtance is ſpent,
     But merrily with the world it went,
     VVhen men eat berries of the hauthorne tree, […]
     And old men knew not vſurie:
     Now tis come to a wofull paſſe, […]

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 17:

     Ariell:
     Where the Bee ſucks, there ſuck I,
     In a Cowslips bell, I lie,
     There I cowch when Owles doe crie,
     On the Batts backe I doe flie
       after Sommer merrily.
     Merrily, merrily, ſhall I liue now
     Vnder the bloſſom that hangs on the Bow.

   • 1956 [1880], Johanna Spyri, Heidi, translation of original by Eileen Hall, page 50:

     Then Heidi would sit down and chatter merrily away.