a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Jer. x. 19 Pleynly [L. plane] þis myn infirmyte is, & I shal bern it.

c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 44 (MED) Þe schar is pleynli þat heery place þat bigoiþ al aboute þe ȝerdis rote as wel abouen as on ech side.

1590 J. Smythe Certain Disc. Weapons Ded. 9 b That they haue plainlie kept and conuerted..a great part thereof to their owne vses.

1679 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 3) xxii. 109 These [buried] Trees..were found plainly to have been cut off by the kerf.

1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. iii. 64 Such a Kingdom..would plainly be superior to all others.

a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 252/2 Of Dunning's opinion I recollect not any particulars: it was but too plainly of the same cast.

1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. xix. 376 Plainly it would fare ill with any man upon whom the public anger might light.

1882 T. Hardy Two on Tower I. xiv. 245 He had a bunch of oak-apples in hand, plainly the object of his climb.

1926 J. Buchan Dancing Floor ix. 168 There it lay in the moonlight,..a place plainly hallowed and set apart.

1983 K. M. MacMorran & K. J. T. Elphinstone Handbk. for Churchwardens & Parochial Church Councillors ii. 29 The Measure plainly contemplates that communications should normally pass through a chain of organisations.

c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 1209 This was the forward, pleynly for tendite, Bitwixen Theseus and hym Arcite.

?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iv. pr. ii. 214 I..seie simply and pleynly [L. pure atque simpliciter] that thei ne ben nat, ne han no beynge.

c1475 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 445 (MED) A ffroward knave pleynly to descryve, And a sloggard schortly [v.r. plainly] to declare.

1550 R. Sherry Treat. Schemes & Tropes sig. Fiii Fyrst it is taken playnly for the time present, past, or to come.

1562 J. Mountgomery in Archaeologia (1883) 47 216 Which..I haue rudely written and plainely penned.

1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 102 They couet to liue simply and plainly.

1740 T. Lewin Last Will in Lewin Lett. (1909) I. ii. 367 I desire to be buried plainly and without Funeral pomp in the Family Vault at Bexley.

1826 J. Clare Let. 15 July (1985) 382 I shall thank you for a copy for the Marquis..& I should like it very plainly bound with very little gilt on it.

1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre I. vii. 114 The hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly.

1886 R. L. Stevenson Strange Case Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde ii. 22 He was small and very plainly dressed, and the look of him, even at that distance, went somehow strongly against the watcher's inclination.

1902 J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold v. 289 I suppose he lives very plainly.

1915 W. Cather Song of Lark i. xvi. 114 She wore a tan bombazine dress, made very plainly.

1986 Gourmet June 22/2 The squid..taste tender and rich and have a good deal more zip than the plainly done, though expensive, branzino.

c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 623 Vnnethes may a man pleynly ben accorded with hym that hath hym openly reuyled.

a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3623 (MED) Þe knight gan playnly with hir pas Vntil sho in hir chamber was.

c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 206 With lefys þer priuates can thei hyd, And playnly durst thei hyd, And playnly durst thei not apeyre.

c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 96 (MED) On the nexte day was the Parlement playnely be-gunne.

1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) ix. 512 Quhen thai herd of the cummyng Of schir Eduard, that so planly Our-raid the land.

1565 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 380 Diverse..personis hes nocht abstenit planelie to pas and repas.

1594 King James VI in Tytler Hist. IV. 216 Plainliest kything himself where greatest confluence of people was.

a1605 R. Bannatyne Jrnl. Trans. Scotl. (1806) 128 The strongest throatcutteris of the Hamiltones going planelie vpon Edinburgh calsay.

c1390 G. Chaucer Melibeus 2119 Pleynly at o word, Thy..rymyng is nat worth a tord.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 2878 What she is he loueth so, To thee pleynly he shal vndo Withoute drede of ony shame.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 384 She seyde playnly..that he sholde never be hole.

c1480 (a1400) St. Theodora 775 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 121 Þe monk..com to þe abbot..& talde Ilke worde playnly.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VII f. lvi He would after an humble fassion plainly reprehende the king.

1560 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique (new ed.) Prol. sig. Av The Iudges..tolde me plainlie, that I was in farther perille, then whereof I was aware.

a1605 R. Bannatyne Jrnl. Trans. Scotl. (1806) 345 The mair planelie and neirlie they deale the better end will follow.

1646 J. Whitaker Danger of Greatnesse 22 The fewnesse of those that have..courage to deal plainly.

1710 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 14 Nov. (1965) I. 64 I have tryd to write plainly. I know not what one can say more upon Paper.

a1832 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. to ed. 2, in Wks. (1843) I. 252/1 ‘I will deal plainly with you,’ said he: ‘I told you I should put your book into the hands of Lord Camden and Mr. Dunning. I have done so.’

1862 A. Trollope Orley Farm II. xvi. 125 Mr. Aram, could he have been induced to speak out his mind plainly, would have expressed, probably, a different opinion.

1892 Dict. National Biogr. at Lindsay, Sir David The confession of his own immorality in early life, and regret for its consequences, may have been a rhetorical artifice to enable him to deal more plainly with the king.

1950 Times 4 Sept. 2/2 Mr. Churchill..accuses the Labour Party..of having caused disunity in the nation. It is necessary to speak plainly on this, for nothing could be less in accordance with the facts.

1993 T. Parker May Lord in His Mercy be Kind to Belfast (1994) vi. 79 In a kind of way I feel I owe it to her to keep myself calm, try and speak plainly and truthfully about what happened to her.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 744 (MED) Wherof that I the difference..Schal do the pleinly forto wite.

a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) ii. 272 Thei kan nought pleynly [v.r. pleynlisch] understonde.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 1306 (MED) He þe effect ful pleynly vndirstode.

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 42 As thow shalt see pleynliche whan thow hast rad Genesis.

a1500 (?a1422) J. Lydgate Life Our Lady (Adv.) in W. B. D. D. Turnbull Visions of Tundale (1843) 115 (MED) Thynketh pleynly and taketh gude hed That all schall passe..When ye lest wene.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. ccxxxi^v He was sodenly murdered with a gonne, whiche of the neighbors was playnly hard.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) ii. iv. 141 Plainlie conceiue I loue you. View more context for this quotation

1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. xii. 58 That you may the plainlier vnderstand it.

1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub ix. 174 Then I laid open his Brain, his Heart, and his Spleen; But, I plainly perceived at every Operation, that the farther we proceeded, we found the Defects encrease upon us in Number and Bulk.

1818 M. W. Shelley Frankenstein I. v. 126 I saw plainly that he was surprised.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) ix. 88 Jingle's voice could be plainly heard, even above the din of the wheels.

1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. i. 5 The evidences of pressure could be plainly traced.

1926 J. Galsworthy Silver Spoon i. iv. 28 The patter of the Dandie's feet on the parquet could be plainly heard.

1992 G. M. Fraser Quartered Safe out Here p. xv Why should I remember just as plainly that a cigarette smoked during an ambush on the Sittang was a brand called Panama.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 195 Grauele..hath vertue to kele and to smyte Inwarde..as constantyn seith pleyneliche.

c1450 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women Prol. 64 Hire [sc. daisy's] chere is pleynly sprad in the brightnesse Of the sonne.

1460 in J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 306 (MED) In the sayd chartre more playnly hit ys expressed.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) John xvi. f. cxlv^v Loo nowe speakest thou playnly, and thou vsest no proverbe.

?1532 T. Elyot tr. Plutarch Educ. Children (new ed.) ix. sig. Diiij But what may I say, to tell it more playnlyer?

1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. ii. i. f. 30 My Lord, they al lie in their throats, as I will plainly proue before you.

1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. ix. 63 So that the Wisdom and Goodness of the Maker, plainly appears in all the Parts of this stupendious Fabrick, and all the several degrees and ranks of Creatures in it.

1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion xi Too plainly is your selfish Folly shewn.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. vii. xiii. 109 The interior Membranes were so divellicated, that the Os or Bone very plainly appeared through the Aperture of the Vulnus or Wound. View more context for this quotation

1797–1803 J. Foster Jrnl. in Life & Corr. J. Foster (1846) I. 230 A child..who cannot yet articulate plainly.

1867 W. G. T. Shedd Homiletics iii. 58 He should constantly strive to exhibit his thoughts plainly.

1896 J. Conrad Outcast of Islands i. i. 11 The road to greatness lay plainly before his eyes.

1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow iv. 99 She wished he would not say the responses so plainly.

1954 O. Sitwell Four Continents iv. 99 I looked at it attentively, and noticed that the price of it was marked plainly in ink on a label attached to it.

1985 T. Jones Skin Deep xxiii. 165 Her anguish was now plainly visible on her face.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Ecclus. i. 8 Alle thingis harde, & a man mai not þem tellen out pleynly [L. explicare] with woord.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 211 (MED) Of þis matire loke wiþ ynne more pleynliche [L. plenius] after þe batayle of Troy.

c1400 Metrical Paraphr. Rolle's Form of Living 442 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 287 (MED) Al euil dedes þat we here hid sal þare plainly be knawen & kyd.

1418 H. Chichele in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1824) 1st Ser. I. 5 (MED) Towchyng al odr things..your brother sendyth to ȝu pleynlych.

1442 Rolls of Parl. V. 58/1 To have, holde, and enjoye hem..as pleynly, hoolly, and in the same maner..as youre seide Fadir hadde.

1469 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 45 (MED) I wyll that myn detts be plennly paied.

a1525 Coventry Leet Bk. 112 The whiche Costes apereth more pleyneley in a paper beyng in the seyd meires bag.

1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) sig. Ai (heading) The Table and Kalender,..to bee sayed at Matyns and Euensong, throughout the yere, excepte certayne proper feastes, as the Rules folowyng more playnlye declare.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 530 The kindred of the mothers side, for to saue her honesty, it plainely denied.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 151 This ponder, that all Nations of the Earth Shall in his Seed be blessed; by that Seed Is meant thy great deliverer, who shall bruise The Serpents head; whereof to thee anon Plainlier shall be reveald. View more context for this quotation