laxlyadv.
/ˈlaksli/, U.S. /ˈlæksli/ 1.
a. In physical sense: Loosely; with loose cohesion; slackly, without tension.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > [adverb]
looselyc1400
slackly1486
slightly1600
laxly1756
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > [adverb] > loosely
laxly1887
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 24 With [it] all the other elements..are more laxly or intimately blended.
1887 D. C. Murray & H. Herman One Traveller Returns ii. 35 The queen's head fell laxly on the arm which encircled her.
b. Botany, etc.: With loose or open arrangement; not closely, compactly, or densely.
ΚΠ
1847 W. E. Steele Handbk. Field Bot. 191 The flor. thin, laxly imbricated.
1852 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Crustacea Pt. I 586 Hand..laxly pubescent about the fingers.
1867 J. R. Jackson in Intellectual Observer No. 62. 129 Laxly or densely imbricate.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 101 Vicia sylvatica..Racemes laxly 6–18-flowered.
2. With moral or intellectual looseness; without strictness, precision, or exactness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > inaccuracy, inexactness > [adverb] > in matters intellectual
unphilosophically1671
laxly1680
unscientifically1794
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > kindness > gentleness or mildness > [adverb]
lithelyc897
softeOE
mildOE
methelyOE
mildlyOE
mansuetelyc1429
gently1525
gentle1548
tenderfully1640
laxly1785
placably1797
unfrowardly1869
society > authority > lack of strictness > [adverb]
lightlyeOE
remissively1537
unoppressively1656
with a loose rein1775
laxly1839
1680 Answer Stillingfleet's Serm. 12 We will not speak so laxly altogether as he does there.
1785 J. Boswell Jrnl. Tour Hebrides 441 [Johnson:] Nobody, at times, talks more laxly than I do.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1779 II. 304 I do not think that men who live laxly in the world, as you and I do, can with propriety assume such an authority.
1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe III. vi. 557 The former of these functions must have been rather laxly exercised.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (ed. 3) I. iii. 102 The..Thegns would attend more laxly.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) II. ix. 403 We must remember how laxly that word is often taken.
1889 H. D. Traill Strafford 74 The enforcement of the laxly administered penal statutes.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1680