adv. Forms: 3 febleliche, -like, 3–4 febliche, (5 febiliche), 4 febilly, (5 -ylly), 4–6 febly, (4 febli, 5 feabli), 6 feablelye, feebily, 7 feably, 7– feebly. [f. FEEBLE + -LY2.] In a feeble manner.
† 1. In a sorry manner or plight; inefficiently, insufficiently, niggardly, poorly, scantily. Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., Edmund Conf., 112.
| Ake febleliche hire spedde, | |
| For seint Eadmund hadde ane smate ȝeorde. |
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6125. Febleliche he liuede al is lif & deyde in feble deþe.
c. 1300. Havelok, 418. Feblelike he gaf hem cloþes.
c. 1300. Beket, 1178.
| A! weilawai! such a man: moche is Godes miȝte! | |
| So febliche wende over lond: for uvele was hit his riȝte. |
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 30. Y holde hym that dothe it but febly conseled.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., Upl. Mous, 37, Poems (1865), 109.
| As I hard say, it was ane sober wane, | |
| Of fog and fairn full febillie wes maid. |
2. In a weak, ineffective, or half-hearted manner, without strength, energy, or force; weakly. Of sight: Dimly.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 3050. Febli þou canst hayte.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, cxlv. 1. I may noght stand now bot febilly.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 67. Þe pouse began to appere febiliche.
1483. Cath. Angl., 124/2. Febylly, debeliter, imbecilliter.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, I. xiv. 104 b. He hath … defended … his boke … wythe myche worke full febly.
1548. Hall, Chron., 177. He was fayntly receyved, and febly welcomed.
1591. Spenser, Ruines of Rome, 219.
| And as ye see huge flames spred diuerslie, | |
| Gathered in one vp to the heauens to spyre, | |
| Efsoones consum’d to fall downe feebily. |
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. ii. 87.
| The deeds of Coriolanus | |
| Should not be vtter’d feebly. |
1682. Dryden, Mac Fl., 197.
| Like mine thy gentle numbers feebly creep; | |
| Thy Tragick Muse gives smiles, thy Comick sleep. |
1757. Foote, Author, II. Arab. Which were as feebly resisted.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xix. 232. Since then, fluctuating between life and death, I have by the blessing of God reached the present date, and see feebly in prospect my recovery.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 275, Theaetetus, Introduction. In dreaming we feebly recollect and also feebly imagine at one and the same time.
3. In a small degree, slightly, poorly.
1830. Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 133. Others feebly represented in our own country.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 698. The acids act but feebly upon caoutchouc.
4. Comb., as feebly-toiling adj.
1845. Mrs. Norton, Child of Islands (1846), 179. The feebly-toiling heart that shrinks appalled.
