c1300 St. Thomas Apostle (Harl.) 60 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 573 (MED) He eschte seint Thomas, as hi bi þe see wende, Whar he purliche [c1300 Laud puyrliche] his man were.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 1512 (MED) Þe king louede is wif anon so purliche & so vaste, þat al is herte onliche on hire on he caste.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1660 (MED) He hade so huge an insyȝt to his aune dedes, Þat þe power of þe hyȝe Prynce he purely forȝetes.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 187 And þe province of Persee purely distruye.

1585 J. Hilton in T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. (1655) ix. 177 The said Errours..I utterly abjure, forsake, and purely renounce.

a1656 J. Hales Serm. at Eton (1673) iii. 44 A Gentleman..purely ignorant, yet greatly desirous to seem learned.

1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. ii. 90 The cylinder of Quicksilver will seem cragged and itch'd [in Errata etch'd], and never purely smooth and polished.

1775 J. Bentham Corr. 22 Sept. (1968) I. 259 I saw Mrs. Far to day: she was purely well.

1883 W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampshire Words 70 'Tis purely mild.

1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xiv. 140 I purely hate to think the Forresters has trapped 'em.

1970 S. Ellin Bind lvii. 285 I purely wish you wouldn't point that thing at me..there's all kinds of accidents can happen with a gun.

2001 P. Duncan Moon Women xxi. 307 They'll be glad and marvel at it and say, how'd she know, that crazy old woman?..I tell you what, I'm going to enjoy that. I purely am.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 3323 Icholle make þi sulue..Abbe al þe fourme of þe erl as þou were purliche [v.r. ryȝt; a1400 Trin. Cambr. v.r. pureliche] he.

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvi. 226 (MED) He haþ the power þat seynt peter hadde; He haþ pureliche þe pot with þe same salue.

c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 802 (MED) So mony pynakle payntet watz, poudred ay-quere Among þe castel carnelez, clambred so þik Þat pared out of papure purely hit semed.

a1500 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Hunterian) (1976) i. 345 Ȝif þo bookys ben purly hys owyn, he is nout bondyn to obeyyn.

a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 4219 (MED) We alle..neuer-more..mowe be deliuered, ne pult out [read out of] prison, but purli þourh ȝour help.

?c1430 (c1400) Rule St. Francis (Corpus Cambr.) in F. D. Matthew Eng. Wks. Wyclif (1880) 47 Þat þei putte not glosis vnto þe reule..but as þe Lord ȝaf to me sympliche and pureliche [c1525 Faust. purely or playnelye] to seie & to write þe reule.

c1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess 5 I have so many an ydel thoght, Purely for defaute of slep, That..I take no kep Of nothing.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 45 (MED) Lete no þyng be gret or hye or acceptable to þe, but purely god [L. nisi pure Deus].

1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Purely, liquido, mere, pure, puriter, Syncere.

1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 3 Habits of the Hand are purely naturall, not positive.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. J. Albert de Mandelslo 5 in Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors Whether they had been..set there in the air purely for show.

1710 G. Berkeley Treat. Princ. Human Knowl. §122 Reasonings and controversies purely verbal.

1761 F. Sheridan Mem. Miss Sidney Bidulph I. 126 He said, he wondered I could be so blind to my own interest, and that all he was doing was purely for my sake.

1838 H. H. Milman tr. F. Guizot in E. Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xviii. 118 (note) The confusion which must necessarily arise in history, when names purely geographical..are taken for historical names belonging to a single nation.

1890 Academy 8 Nov. 415/2 There were..no children of origin purely Egyptian.

1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow vii. 184 He was so detached, so purely objective.

1969 A. Carter Heroes & Villains (1981) iii. 44 She wore a dead wrist watch on her arm, purely for decoration.

2000 M. Gayle Turning Thirty liv. 215 So I'm kind of moving in with her in a purely platonic manner.

1420 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (1837) App. 475 Resyngnande of his awyn fre wil purly and symply be fust and baston in til handis of [etc.].

1427 Rolls of Parl. IV. 327/1 Ye open declaration..subscribed pureli and simply.

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1905) i. 147 (MED) Also, A voyde grounde..to be holde & to be had..frely, quietly, purely, & vtterly, welle hole & pesybly for euer.

1549 Acts Sederunt Scotl. (1811) 51 The Lordis..hes referrit, and purlie referris and submittis, the jugement..to [etc.].

1592 in W. M. Bryce Sc. Grey Friars (1909) II. 68 The samyn was nocht maid, givin, grantit nor disponit to thame puirlie and absolutely upon tytill onerous.

1658 in A. Hunter-Weston Papers of Hunters of Hunterston (1925) 59 The late prince and Stewart of Scotland who wes immediat lawfull Superiour of the samyn purelie and simplie be staffe and bastoun as use is at Edinburgh.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Chesh. 183 This his gift was a gift indeed, purely bestowed on the Colledge, as loded with no detrimentall Conditions.

1880 J. Muirhead tr. Gaius Institutes iii. 218 If I have stipulated purely, he may stipulate conditionally.

?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 217 (MED) I axe þat I may purely come to þee wiþ liȝt and not wiþ derknesse.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. HHHiii^v To behaue you purely, and..to apply yourselfe to labour in the seruice of god.

1537 (title) The Byble, whych is all the holy Scripture: In whych are contayned the Olde and Newe Testament truelye and purely translated into Englishe by Thomas Matthewe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida (1623) iv. vii. 53 Faith and troth, Strain'd purely from all hollow bias drawing.

1656 in J. A. Clyde Hope's Major Practicks (1937) I. 28 To sie the word purlie preached and sacraments puirlie administred.

1674 T. Flatman To Mr. Faithorn 6 One line speaks purelier Thee, than my best strain.

1713 G. Berkeley Three Dialogues Hylas & Philonous ii. 77 The Substance of God, which being spiritual, is therefore purely intelligible.

1791 T. Jefferson in G. Washington Writings (1892) XII. 20 (note) It is fortunate that our first chief magistrate is purely and zealously republican.

1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto XIV xcii. 161 Or Germany, where people purely kiss.

1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt III. xlvi. 226 When a woman feels purely and nobly, that ardour of hers..makes one of her most precious influences.

1921 Act 11 & 12 Geo. V c. 29 Sched. vii To..promote union with other Churches in which it finds the Word to be purely preached.

1990 K. Frank Chainless Soul: Life E. Brontë 2 Not the triumph of a mystical spirit, but of a woman who lived bravely, consistently and purely, with unassailable integrity.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xvi. 165 His [sc. a Jew's] wife hath prepared his dinner, pure meates purely dressed.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xx. 97 The fayre carbuncle, so ful of clerenes, That in thee truely dyd moost purely shyne.

1596 E. Spenser Prothalamion sig. A3 So purely white they were, That euen the gentle streame, the which them bare, Seem'd foule to them.

1627 M. Drayton Elegies in Battaile Agincourt 197 The Sunnes rayes..Bent on some obiect, which is purely white.

1751 B. Franklin Observ. conc. Increase Mankind in Papers (1961) IV. 234 The Number of purely white People in the World is proportionably very small.

1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 17 The Ores in which Allum owes its origin to the decomposition of Pyrites... 1st. The purely pyritous... 2d. The Pyrito Bituminous.

1824 M. R. Mitford Our Village I. 39 The purely grey rouleau..showed its mixture of black and white.

1864 Ld. Tennyson Aylmer's Field in Enoch Arden, etc. 75 The soft river-breeze..on him breathed Far purelier in his rushings to and fro.

1915 L. O. Howard et al. Mosquitoes N. & Central Amer. III. i. 48 Not to confuse the metallic reflection of those scales in cacophrades with the purely golden ones of durhamii.

1576 G. Baker tr. C. Gesner Newe Jewell of Health iv. f. 232^v Washe dilygentlye and purelie the bodie [of the alembic] [L. bociam diligenter laua].

1611 Bible (King James) Isa. i. 25 I will..purely purge away thy drosse. View more context for this quotation

1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ 27 It may be purely separated from its Husk by a Mill.

1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 67 These Ribs must be purely Smooth-fil'd and Pollish'd.