| 释义 |
▪ I. † ˈmerely, adv.1 Obs.
[f. mere a.1 + -ly2.]
Wonderfully, beautifully.
c1205Lay. 2677 Þe king..ane neowe burh makede..mærliche feier. c1400Sc. Trojan War i. 337 Ascendande up þe greces gray Rith merely maide of marble-stane.
▪ II. merely, adv.2|ˈmɪəlɪ|
[f. mere a.2 + -ly2.]
†1. Without admixture or qualification; purely.
1548Cranmer in Strype Eccl. Mem. II. App. AA. 98 Soch other moral lernyngs as are merely deryved out of scripture. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. §4 These Narrations..not to be mingled with the Narrations which are meerely and sincerely naturall. 1637Gillespie Eng.-Pop. Cerem. iii. iv. 63 Such things as are not merely, but mixedly Divine. 1645E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1662) 125 The witnesse of the spirit is merely immediate.
†b. Without the help of others. Obs.
1608D. T[uvil] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 2 To deliuer it vnto them, as if it had proceeded meerly from himselfe.
†2. Absolutely, entirely; quite, altogether. Obs.
1546in Eng. Gilds (1870) 197 What goodes, catalles,..or other stuff, do merely belong..to all the sayd promocions. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxii. §18 That therefore baptisme by heretiques is meerely voyde. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 48 The government is meerely tyrannicall: for the great Turke is so absolute a lord [etc.]. 1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 137. 1613 Fletcher, etc. Honest Man's Fort v. iii, I..am as happy In my friends good, as it were meerly mine. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. iii. §2 (1622) 214 It is meerely impossible, that any thing should be the cause of it selfe. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts 29, I have not meerly lied in saying, she is my sister..but onely dissembled. 1728Morgan Algiers I. Pref. 2, I wished, nay merely languished for their Destruction. 1788Wesley Wks. (1872) VI. 283 Those countries that are merely Popish; as Italy, Spain, Portugal.
†b. As a matter of fact, actually. Obs.
c1596Harington in Metam. Ajax (1813) Introd. 13 As I say merely in the booke, the 118 page. 1601Ld. Mountjoy in Moryson Itin. (1617) ii. 204 Not onely have [I] taken all occasions by the death of Captaines to extinguish their entertainement, but also have meerely discharged above five thousand.
3. Without any other quality, reason, purpose, view, etc.; only (what is referred to) and nothing more. Often preceded by not.
c1580Sidney Ps xxxix. iii, The greatest state we see, At best, is meerely vanity. 1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. liv. §4 The incarnation of the Sonne of God consisteth meerely in the vnion of natures. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 459 Thoughts are no subiects Intents, but meerely thoughts. 1622Peacham Compl. Gent. x. 94 Diuers of his workes, are but meerely translations out of Latine and French. 1690Locke Govt. i. ix. §88 Men are not Proprietors of what they have meerly for themselves. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. Pref. 5 The multitudes who read merely for the sake of talking. 1841Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) III. viii. 117 The hero must be young and interesting—must have to do, and not merely to suffer. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. iv. 131 It is not very common for any one to die merely of old age. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 99 Perhaps Nicias is serious, and not merely talking for the sake of talking. 1888F. Hume Mme. Midas i. iv, To many people Cowper is merely a name.
▪ III. merely
obs. form of merrily. |