slacklyadv.
/ˈslakli/, U.S. /ˈslækli/ 1. In a remiss or negligent manner; without due diligence or energy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > slowness > [adverb] > tardily or sluggishly
slacklyc960
latelyOE
heavilyc1000
hoolya1340
sluggedlyc1450
sluggishlyc1450
tarryingly1530
loiteringly1547
tediously1557
languishingly1579
limpingly1579
lingeringly1589
unnimbly1607
longsomelyc1610
tardilya1616
a-sluga1620
sluggingly1653
languidly1655
dilatorily1700
heavy1701
lagginglyc1817
laggardly1835
slack1854
slackly1884
logily1912
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adverb] > without force or vigour
slacklyc960
feeblyc1330
remissly?a1425
faintlyc1440
weakly1526
punily1555
forcelessly1611
unvigorously1641
feeble1834
validless1866
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [adverb] > without diligence
slowlyeOE
slacklyc960
unduly1423
remissly1533
slenderly?1542
dissolutely1553
indiligentlya1631
slack1641
undiligently1645
unindustriously1659
c960 Rule St. Benet (Schröer) xliii. 68 Wen is, þæt sume..sleaclice lagon and slepon.
1388 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) 2 Macc. xii. 14 These that weren with ynne, tristiden to the stablenesse of wallis,..and diden slacliere.
1422 Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 160 For-als-moche that he his Sonnes..slackely reprowid and not chastid.
1531 W. Tyndale Expos. 1 John (1537) 99 Therfor is that office so slackly executed.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 23 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) The same Statutes are so slackely penned..that they are often..wrested to the fraude of the Subject.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. v. i. iii. 467 They vse them rashly, slackely, vnprofitably, and to no purpose.
1665 T. Manley tr. H. Grotius De Rebus Belgicis 627 Descending suddenly to assault Voorne Island, if it were slackly guarded.
1727 A. Pope et al. Περι Βαθους: Art of Sinking 8 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. Their Laws..have ever been slackly executed.
1816 W. Scott Old Mortality xiii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. III. 283 The summons was very slackly obeyed.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxiii. 105 You would find—after your education in doing things slackly for one-and-twenty years—great difficulties in study.
2.
a. Without due vigour or force; slowly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adverb] > without due vigour
slackly1398
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Bodl.) v. xxxix By openyng þereof þe vertu passith and þe lyuour worcheþ þe more slackelich.
1511 Pylgrymage Richarde Guylforde (Pynson) f. xlij We sayled forth slakly and easely ayenst the wynde.
1587 J. Hooker tr. Giraldus Cambrensis Vaticinall Hist. Conquest Ireland ii. 32 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) II When he dooth set foorth on his iournie verie slacklie and slowlie.
1648 H. Hexham Groot Woorden-boeck at Slappelick to Goe Slackly, Faintly, or Slowly to worke.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam lxxxv. 126 When one would aim an arrow fair, But send it slackly from the string. View more context for this quotation
b. Not busily or briskly.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > business affairs > [adverb] > slack
slack1854
slackly1884
the world > movement > rate of motion > slowness > [adverb] > tardily or sluggishly
slacklyc960
latelyOE
heavilyc1000
hoolya1340
sluggedlyc1450
sluggishlyc1450
tarryingly1530
loiteringly1547
tediously1557
languishingly1579
limpingly1579
lingeringly1589
unnimbly1607
longsomelyc1610
tardilya1616
a-sluga1620
sluggingly1653
languidly1655
dilatorily1700
heavy1701
lagginglyc1817
laggardly1835
slack1854
slackly1884
logily1912
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adverb] > not briskly or busily
slackly1884
1884 American 9 148 Times are dull and labor slackly employed.
1891 G. Gissing New Grub St. I. 5 When one kind of goods begins to go slackly, he is ready with something new.
3. Not tightly or firmly; loosely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > [adverb]
looselyc1400
slackly1486
slightly1600
laxly1756
1486 Bk. St. Albans B vj Tho saame lewnes [= lunes for hawks] þou shalt fastyn slackely as a bowstryng vnocupyede.
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in Wks. 591/2 So god agayne~warde vseth hymselfe towarde hym, in holdynge hym the more slackely.
1609 W. Shakespeare Louers Complaint in Sonnets sig. K2 Some in her threeden fillet still did bide,..Though slackly braided in loose negligence.
1731 Philos. Trans. 1729–30 (Royal Soc.) 36 454 A Piece of Muslin..tied slackly about the Neck.
1805 Naval Chron. 13 243 This accident happened from her being..slackly rigged.
1879 W. H. Dixon Royal Windsor II. i. 6 The gown was caught in slackly by a belt.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.c960