[OE. lætlíce (= ON. latliga), f. læt- LATE a.1 + -líce -LY2; but mostly a mod. formation. (The inflected comparative and superlative are obs.)]
† 1. Slowly, tardily, sluggishly; reluctantly, sparingly. Obs.
c. 1000. Life of Guthlac, xx. (1848), 80/12. Ða andswarode he him lætlice.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter lxxi. 15. Wise men of werldes witte wenes þat þai be rightwis … & forthy þai are latlier turned till shrift.
a. 1400. Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS., 17. Þou ȝernys ilke a daye þat at noghte avayles the, and euer mare ouer lattly þat it may availe the.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 55. Do he hit noght ouer latly ne ouer hastly. Ibid., 73. Sterynge of body, ne bathes vse but latly. Ibid., 114. Of a meene heued bytwen greet and lytill, latly spekyng but mystere be.
† 2. After or beyond the usual or proper time; behind time; at a late hour, late. Obs.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, II. (1570), A v b/1. That hath me caused so lately to be here.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 2. A policie … which they put in practise too lately.
1614. Lodge, Seneca, 1. Being badly lent, they are worse satisfied, and being unrestored are too lately complained of.
3. Not long since; within a short time past; within recent times; recently, of late.
1483. Cath. Angl., 210/1. Latly, nuper.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., I. iv. 11. There to buylde a Cytie in the remembraunce of the Cytie of Troye lately subuerted.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xiii. 6. Bot laitly lichtit of my meir, I come of Edinburch fra the Sessioun.
1526. Tindale, Acts xviii. 2. A … iewe named Aquila,… latly come from Itali.
1533. Gau, Richt Vay (S.T.S.), 104. The sekkis … quhilk ar rissine laitlie in the kirk.
1581. Savile, Tacitus’ Hist., II. liii. (1591), 85. To enquire newes of the passengers which latelyest came from those quarters.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. 1131. ’T was first a green Tree, then a gallant Hull, Lately a Mushroom, now a flying Gull.
1645. Milton, Tetrach., Wks. 1851, IV. 167. They were suspected of pollution by some sects of Philosophy and Religions of old, and latelier among the Papists.
1670. Lady Mary Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 22. There is letely come out a new play by Mr. Dreyden.
a. 1758. Ramsay, Vision, vi. Thy graneing, and maneing, Have laitlie reich’d myne eir.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvi. One of your tenants, whose mother is lately dead.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. I. 469. The Exclusionists, lately so powerful, might rise in arms against him.
b. In comb. with ppl. adjs.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 230. Some vnexperienced & lately-pressed souldiers.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., xvii. 267. The lately-passed times denominate the new. Ibid. (1619), Leg. Robt. Dk. Normandy, cxxi. Dealing abroad his lately-purchas’d Prey.
1848. Buckley, Iliad, 239. With lately-whetted axes.
¶ 4. At a later time, subsequently. Obs. rare–1.
1673. Wood, Life, 14 July. He said that he would leave it (being too long to recite) to a book that would lately come forth.
