baselyadv.

a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) l. 1216 Sauyng þat on ey had he more basly Then þat other.

1994 U.S. Patent 5,319,905 The spring motor tends to urge the more distally disposed panel of the pair to a deployed position with respect to the more basely disposed panel of the pair.

1998 J. A. Drose Fetal Echocardiography (2010) vi. 122/1 The anterior mitral valve leaflet eventually becomes positioned more basely than the septal tricuspid leaflet.

1562 J. Heywood Sixt Hundred Epigrammes xcvii, in Wks. sig. Ddiv^v Talke thou basely, talke thou boldely.

1585 J. Dee Jrnl. in True & Faithful Relation Spirits (1659) i. 365 I hear..a whistling very basely or lowly.

a1529 J. Skelton Speke Parrot in Poet. Wks. (1843) II. 24 So bold and so braggyng, and was so baselye borne.

1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Mark iii. f. xxviii By these few basely borne, vnlearned, and weake persons, it pleased the Lorde to renewe the whole worlde.

1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 37 Baselye Neoptolemus was borne [L. degeneremque Neoptolemum].

1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes iii. ii. 185 Commonly such as are basely borne..are of ill disposition.

1743 Mem. Unfortunate Young Nobleman 169 Could a Delicacy like this be expected from one thrust out from his Infancy and exposed to all the servile Offices, Labours and Hardships of the most basely born!

1799 W. Scott Apol. for Tales of Terror 31 Away, thou hound, so basely born. Or dread the scourge's echoing blow.

1867 London Society Dec. 541/1 Frank thought so very much of pure descent, and no one would be wronged by the concealment of the fact that she was basely born.

1899 J. F. Scott Sexual Instinct vi. 185 Some Girls are Almost Born into This Profession, many of them being illegitimate, basely born children, or the offspring of sensual parents.

1935 Times 28 Oct. 12/3 The woman basely born but dowered with queenliness and the lesser mystery of vision in the earthbound soul.

1972 H. F. Jolowicz & B. Nicholas Hist. Introd. Study of Rom. Law (ed. 3) ii. 11 This prohibition of intermarriage was of political as well as social importance, because it emphasised the patrician contention that the plebeians were too basely born to be admitted to the magistracies.

1996 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 14 Feb. 8 Tragedy..is popular, revered, and accepted at the highest levels of society and State... Comedy, by contrast, is scruffy, degraded and of obscure origins—a fact parallel to basely-born individuals.

2008 D. Chacko Echo Five xxiv. 225 If a man is basely-born and has no friends in important places, or has gone too far, they'll treat him badly.

1538 T. Elyot Dict. Tapinosis, a fygure, wherby a great thyng is basely described.

1584 H. Llwyd & D. Powel Hist. Cambria 210 Sonnes were not baselie esteemd.

1620 T. Venner Via Recta iii. 52 Them that desire to look big, and to liue basely.

1651 R. Wittie tr. J. Primrose Pop. Errours iv. 197 Those of Galens method..they basely account of, and contemne.

1689 R. Baxter Treat. Knowl. & Love Compared ii. xix. 313 Is it not pardonable..to say, That the noble faculty of Sense (because Brutes have it) is usually too basely described by Philosophers?

1717 B. Wadsworth 12 Single Serm. ii. 25 This is Murmuring, and a great Crime it is: For it highly and basely reflects on God, who orders and governs all things in his Providence.

1760 H. Lee tr. Thomas à Kempis Meditations ii. i. 74 Thou, fulfilling the scriptures, wast most basely valued.

1876 Cornhill Mag. Mar. 291 Education must profit or must suffer according as the trade of schoolmaster is highly or basely esteemed.

1937 S. F. Wright Megiddo's Ridge xix. 144 What could be the dishonour of abandoning a career so basely esteemed?

1593 W. Shakespeare Venus & Adonis sig. Fiij^v They basely flie, and dare not stay the field. View more context for this quotation

1656 A. Cowley Davideis ii. 56 in Poems Some basely dye, and some more basely yield.

1663 Robin Hoods Garland sig. E2^v Beshrew thy heart, said little John, Thou basely dost begin.

1715 Fox Unkennel'd (single sheet) Ormond who no Addition wants, To make his Soul compleat, Won't basely cringe for further Grants.

1792 Times 14 Sept. 2/3 All the State prisoners who were at Orleans, to the number of fifty-four, have been basely and deliberately murdered.

1872 J. Yeats Growth Commerce 122 The King of Portugal basely betrayed Colombus.

1892 J. A. Allen Wentworth & Pym in Week 8 Apr. 294 Is it not better in a noble cause To suffer, fighting bravely to the last, Than basely yield our own and others' rights For bare immunity?

a1924 M. Ghose Coll. Poems (1972) II. 136 What would'st thou Shame..Basely thy back turn on that rescueless That peerless creature perfect past man's thought.

1958 M. Bottral Every Man a Phoenix iii. 42 Men collectively act more brutishly and basely than they do as individuals.

2009 Irish Independent (Nexis) 15 July Power is the purpose. It is all that counts, no matter how ignobly or basely it is achieved.