crypticallyadv.
/ˈkrɪptᵻkli/, U.S. /ˈkrɪptək(ə)li/ 1. In a cryptic manner; occultly, enigmatically.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > secrecy, concealment > a profound secret, mystery > [adverb]
dighenlichec893
diȝelichec1200
darklyc1350
mysteriously1486
mystically1509
in (a) mystery1526
abstrusely1611
cryptically1663
oracularly1771
occultly1793
pokerishly1854
mystifically1880
sophically1888
sphinxily1889
mystifyingly1937
1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus Illustratus viii. 122 Principles..are..hidden, and cryptically reserved by God from the plenary discovery of our senses.
1670 W. Marshall Answers upon Several Heads Philos. ii. vii. 236 We shall take one of the Pustulates, for its definition cast into the form of a Postulate; or as cryptically implying that definition and the postulate to be thereupon immediately formed.
1680 R. Boyle Exper. & Notes Prodvcibleness Chymicall Princ. ii. 68 in Sceptical Chymist (new ed.) If we take the word Acid..in a familiar sense, without Cryptically distinguishing it from those vapors that are akin to it.
1730 N. Markwick Suppl. Stricturæ Lucis 95 Turkey, Ægypt, and Mahomet's Arabia, are in this very Psalm cryptically intended, and pointed at under borrowed Names and Figures.
1849 Hogg's Weekly Instructor New Ser. 3 179/1 All great prophecies..are likely to involve double, triple, or even quadruple interpretations—each..cryptically involving another.
1899 G. E. Mitton Fire & Tow ix. 100 They discussed details—cryptically because of the waiting-maid's presence—during the whole of dinner.
1922 D. H. Lawrence England my England 142 He broke into a short laugh. ‘Good for her!’ he exclaimed cryptically.
1975 Texas Monthly Oct. 86/2 I introduce myself, they smile cryptically to one another.
1989 M. Hudson Our Grandmothers' Drums (1990) viii. 135 These songs..provided a satirical and sometimes cryptically insulting commentary on current events.
2004 New Yorker 16 Feb. 149/1 ‘There has been a stab of intrusive otherness,’ he said, cryptically but seductively, in his nicotine baritone.
2. Zoology. In such a way as to provide camouflage or concealment. Cf. cryptic adj. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > markings or colourings > [adverb] > protectively concealing
cryptically1896
procryptically1900
1896 Zoologist 20 67 I suspect that Xerophila may be, in part, cryptically coloured.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 725/2 This revealing coloration..is as a rule hidden by a cryptically coloured fore wing.
1978 Condor 80 252/1 Adult meadowlarks are cryptically patterned on the back.
2005 E. H. Williams Nature Handbk. iv. 69 Sometimes, when the adults have other defenses, only the young of a species are cryptically colored.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1663