obscurelyadv.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 87 (MED) Wherefore thei dwellede obscurely [a1387 J. Trevisa tr. were as it were vnknowe] amonge men of the este vn to the realme of Macedony inhabitate.

1566 in J. S. Clouston Rec. Earldom of Orkney (1914) 376 [They] came vndir sylence of nycht to the towne of Kirkwall and thair obscuirly ramanit.

1592 Greenes Groats-worth of Witte sig. B4^v You wil be accounted..a pesant, if ye liue thus obscurely.

c1620 in Medieval Eng. Theatre (1995) 17 23 In ye Toppe of my Ladye Oake was bifore hand placed obscurely one John Barbor of Nuporte.

1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 260 Most Poets dye poor, and consequently obscurely.

1711 J. Strype Life M. Parker i. vii. 33 How obscurely and dangerously soever he past these Marian days.

1763 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting III. iv. 120 He lived obscurely in Knave's-acre, in partnership with a house-painter.

1832 A. Cunningham Maid of Elvar v. ix. 76 A youth lives in the west, Obscurely born.

1876 R. Browning St. Martin's Summer v Though corpses rot obscurely, Ghosts escape.

1922 V. Woolf Jacob's Room i. 9 He was an unknown man exhibiting obscurely.

1966 M. R. D. Foot SOE in France viii. 189 It was here [at Perpignan] that vic's escapers had to be passed over to the Spanish frontier guides, as obscurely as could be.

2002 Times 11 Feb. ii. 26/1 And there he worked obscurely, slaking his residual workaholism with what he wryly calls ‘meths’.

a1527 R. Thorne in R. Hakluyt Divers Voy. (1582) sig. B4 ^v It [sc. a map] cannot be but obscurely set out.

1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1888) I. 107 Quhy hef ze setfurth the said pennance sa obscuirlie?

1611 J. Davies Scourge of Folly 237 Which there in mistery obscurly lies That those which see it neede haue Eagles Eyes.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 48 By your absence have I obscurely ghessed, and by your letters clearely understood of the strange resolution.

1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. viii. 121 Wheresoever he writes more obscurely, search out some more perspicuous Passages in the same Writer.

1797–1803 J. Foster Jrnl. in Life & Corr. J. Foster (1846) I. 195 To reveal, though obscurely, ‘the secrets of the world unknown’.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby lv. 549 She even went so far as to hint obscurely at an attachment.

1887 Dict. National Biogr. at Cotton, Charles Lovelace..hints not obscurely in the dedicatory verses that he was under pecuniary obligations to Cotton.

1914 M. Sinclair Three Sisters lxv. 379 Rowcliffe's smile that had been reminiscent was now vague and obscurely speculative.

1952 B. Pym Excellent Women (1980) iii. 23 She muttered obscurely.

1997 Sight & Sound Jan. 11/1 One of my favourite psychoanalytic concepts is ‘nachtraglichkeit’—translated into French as ‘après-coup’, more obscurely into English as ‘deferred action’ or ‘retroactive causality’.

1585 tr. P. de La Ramée Lat. Gram. ii. i. 5 M Doth humme within, the lippes being shut fast at the utter part of the mouth, more fullye in the beginning of the worde, more obscurelye in the ende.

1662 J. Howell New Eng. Gram. 8 E passeth also obscurely, where it ends a word with a consonant, as spoken hablado, broken quebrado, Coffer cafre.

1871 H. J. Roby Gram. Lat. Lang. I. Pref. 73 In English we are in the habit of changing, or pronouncing obscurely, short vowels in unaccented syllables.

c1586 J. Stewart Poems (1913) 34 Quhair hiddius rocks obscuirlie did depon Thair feirfull fronts.

c1596 R. Johnson Seauen Champions (1852) ii. vii. 194 They stood obscurely behind the trees.

1620 S. Rowlands Night-raven 28 A night..obscurely darke, or Moone light cleere.

1632 J. Hayward tr. G. F. Biondi Eromena 54 Torches, which (though of pure white wax) were yet all artificially made obscurely browne.

1783 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds II. ii. 437 Umbrose W[arbler];..upper parts greyish brown: on the back obscurely marked with black.

1790 T. Bewick Hist. Quadrupeds (1824) 236 A variety is found in the inner parts of the province of New York, which is called the Bay Lynx,..its general colour is a bright bay, obscurely marked with dusky spots.

a1839 W. M. Praed Poems (1864) II. 420 There my Whole, obscurely bright, Still shows his little lamp by night.

1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xxiii. 593 It..is composed of obscurely-stratified hard sandstone.

1871 C. Darwin Descent of Man II. xii. 25 The young are obscurely tinted.

1954 C. E. Hubbard Grasses 159 Poa palustris may be distinguished..from P. trivalis by its..obscurely nerved bronze-tipped lemmas.

1988 M. Moorcock Mother London ii. 122 People had begun to weep and she felt obscurely guilty for not joining in.

2000 W. Self How Dead Live (2001) iii. 89 The fact that I'll never see her again is obscurely satisfying.