| 释义 |
easily, adv.|ˈiːzɪlɪ|
Formerly compared easilier, -est; also easierly. Forms: 4 aisieliche, eseliche, eesely, eesili, 4–5 esely, esili, esyly, 5–6 easely, 6 easly, easilie, 6– easily.
[f. easy a. + -ly2.]
1. Comfortably; without pain, discomfort, or anxiety, luxuriously, self-indulgently.
c1300St. Brandan 395 Ȝe schulle wende, Al eseliche withoute anuy [MS. Laud 108, 106 (Halliw.) has aisieliche]. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 20 To disceyue men in gostly goodis and worldly, and norischen hem esily in synne. c1386Chaucer Prol. 471 Vp on an Amblere esily [v.r. esely] she sat. c1440York Myst. xlviii. 298 Belyve ȝe brought me of þe beste And made my bedde full esyly. 1562Act 5 Eliz. xii. §3 Persons seeking only to live easily, and to leave their honest Labour. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 339 The one sleepes easily because he cannot study. Mod. The patient rested much more easily last night.
2. Without constraint or stiffness; smoothly, freely.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. iii, Þis puppis [the hinder part of the brain] is harde þat þe synewis of meuynge meue þe eseloker [1535 easelier] and þe soner. 1535Coverdale 2 Sam. xx. 8 A swerde..which wente easely out and in. 1599Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 159 Sir, your wit ambles well; it goes easily. Mod. The window-frame fits quite easily.
†3. Without hurry; deliberately, gradually. Also, calmly, quietly. Obs.
1384Chaucer H. Fame 1675 That through the worlde her fame goo Esely and not to faste. c1400Destr. Troy 2208 When Priam hade his prologe preched to ende, Ector hym answarede esely and faire. c1440Anc. Cookery in Househ. Ord. (1790) 473 Let hit renne thorugh esiliche. 1483Vulg. abs Terentio 7 b, Bere esily thy harme & it shall greue the the lesse. 1611Tourneur Ath. Trag. ii. iv, I am acquainted with the way..Lets easily walke. 1695Ld. Preston Boeth. i. 9 She reach'd her Hand easily towards my Breast.
4. a. With little exertion, labour, or difficulty.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame 1929 So great a noyse..Men myght hyt have herd esily to Rome. c1400Mandeville xiv. 160 The poyntes [of these contrefetes] wil breken lightly, and men may esily pollische hem. c1449Pecock Repr. i. ix. 46 Withoute the clerkis..lay persoones schulen not esili liȝtli and anoon haue the dew vndirstonding of Holi Scripture. 1538Starkey England ii. ii. §12 (1871) 190 By thys mean..the controuersys..schold easelyar be pacyfyd. 1550Veron Godly Saiyngs (1846) 9 Whyche thing we may easly se in the historyes of the olde auncyent Jewes. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xiv. 65 Nothing is more easily broken than a mans word. 1718Motteux Quix. (1733) II. 178 Who might easiliest get out of the City. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 29 It is a..better rule not to put off till tomorrow what we can do more easily to-day.
b. In phrases like easily possible, it may easily happen. Also easily first (= beyond question) after L. facile princeps.
1590Swinburn Testaments 145 They are more straung, nor easilie like to happen. 1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 75. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 96 We name..things according to what they oftenest or easiliest do seem to us to be. 1871R. Ellis Catullus xlix. 6 He as easily last among the poets As thou surely the first among the pleaders. 1883W. Blaikie in Harper's Mag. Nov. 907/1 Harvard has..easily the finest gymnasium in the world.
5. With little resistance or reluctance.
1649Milton Eikon. Wks. 1738 I. 392 The House of Peers..gave..easily [their consent]. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physic 56 If it come from the Brain it [a Catarrh] afflicteth easily, long and continually. 1711Steele Spect. No. 153 ⁋4 Youth catches Distempers more easily [than Age]. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 38 They easily bear with the smothering Heat of Stoves. 1725De Foe Voy. round W. (1840) 24, I had too easily, and, I may say, too weakly, put that to the vote. 1871Tennyson Last Tourn. 401 [He] had thought He loved her..wedded easily But left her all as easily.
†6. Preceded by but: In a listless or indifferent manner; hence, in a trifling degree; with poor success; indifferently, meanly, poorly. Obs.
1475Bk. Noblesse 29 Some peple endowed with worldly goodes,..can not depart but easily withe finaunce. 1476Sir J. Paston in Lett. 776 III. 162 The Frenshe Kynge cheryssheth hyr [Queen Margaret] butt easelye. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 16 Some nonnys kepe theyr virginite but easely. Ibid. 34 For lacke of tethe I cham my meate but easily. 1536Remed. Sedition 16 Can they here goddis lawes, ye though they be but easily preached, and not abhorre sedition..?
7. (Made) in such a manner as to be easy.
1599Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 75 The staires..are so easily made, that one may go them vp and downe a hors-backe.
8. colloq. At least (a specified number or time); more than.
1947Library Jrnl. Aug. 1097/2 Easily, a million cards were handled in the process and the difference between that and 100,000 destroyed. |