adv.; rare in mod. use. Forms: 5 facely, 6–7 facilie, -lly, -ly(e, 6– facilely. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In a facile manner.
1. With little exertion, labor, or difficulty; without effort or restraint; easily.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxi. 77. That thenne shalle permytte hym facely & lightly for to do his vyage safly.
c. 1565. Lindsay of Pitscottie, Chron. Scot. (1728), 60. Now, let us see how facilly this Matter, without Slaughter or Effusion of Blood, may be brought to pass.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. viii. § 32. Cloyster-men … might more facilly be swayed to bend.
1677. Lady Chaworth, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 39. He might facilier do itt the second time in the way the House had ordered it.
1835. Fraser’s Mag., XII. Sept., 267. The ball-and-socket principle, upon which the whole formerly so facilely moved, is destroyed.
† 2. Affably, courteously, graciously. Obs.
1528. Fox, in Pocock Rec. Ref., I. liii. 142. His holiness very promptly and facily had condescended unto the granting thereof.
1550. Dk. Northumberland, Letter, 23 July in Consid. Peace & Goodw. Prot., 5. That your Grace may facilely condescend thereunto.
3. With (a too) ready acquiescence; without sufficient consideration, thoughtlessly.
1864. The Spectator, 25 June, 740. He facilely concludes that some male animals have teats, others not.
1872. Daily News, 28 Feb. The cheers … were no empty breath of a populace facilely beguiled by the lust of the eye.
