adv. (sb.) Forms: 1 tréowlíce, 3 treo-, treou-, trouliche, 3–6 treu-, trew-, etc., -lich(e, -ly, etc. (see TRUE a. and -LY2), 5 treoly, 5–6 trulye, 5–8 truely, 6–7 trulie, (7 trooly), 4– truly. [OE. tréowlíce, ME. treulich, etc., f. tréow, treu, TRUE: see -LY2.] In a true manner (in various senses of the adj.).
1. Faithfully, loyally, constantly, with steadfast allegiance. arch.
a. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.) xi. 6. [xii. 5]. Ic do swyðe treowlice ymb hy.
c. 1205. Lay., 20000. Alle heo sworen þene að, Trouliche [c. 1275 Treuliche] þat heo wolden Mid Arðure halden.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2070. Conan … bihet him to serui triweliche.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 81 (Cott.). Qua truly [v.rr. treuli, trewely] loues þis lemman, Þis es þe loue bes neuer gan. Ibid. (13[?]), 1062 (Gött.). Rightwis [Abel] was, and goddes freind, And treuli gaf he him his tend.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 152. Hit were better þat lewid men diden to lordes þis offis … for better and lighter and treulier schulde hit be done.
c. 1400. Brut, ccxli. 350. Alle þe conauntes … schulde be trewly kept.
1563. Winȝet, Four Scoir Thre Quest., Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 121. The haill Kirk of God, professing trewlie Christ Iesus.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. v. 110. What villainy soere I bid thee do to performe it, directly and truely.
1852. M. Arnold, Second Best, 24. An impulse … To the words, ‘Hope, Light, Persistence,’ Strongly sets and truly burns.
† b. With steadfast faith or assurance; confidently. In quot. c. 1275, ? so as to be safe or trustworthy; securely (cf. TRUE a. 1 d). Obs.
c. 1275. Lay., 11898. And wel he makede his castles Treuliche [c. 1205 Treowe] and faste.
c. 1325. Spec. Gy Warw., 203. Þu shalt … bileue also And treuliche in þin herte do, Þat god had neuere biginning Ne neuere shal haue ending.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 485. Gyf he liffis, he ma spek, and ga,… And gyf he na may, trewis trewly Þat ȝe se is all fantassy.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 202 b. Trustynge truely that all thynges were at a good poynt.
† 2. Honestly, honorably, uprightly. Obs.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 155, 156. Bote ȝe liuen trewely and eke loue þe pore, And such good as God sent Treweliche parten.
1453. Dunfermline Regr. (Bann. Cl.), 340. To gife and to pay lelly and treuly but fraude or gille a hundreth pundis.
1530. Palsgr., 358. I holde with them that deale trewly.
1558. in Foxe, A. & M. (1570), 2249/2. I am a poore woman and do liue by my hands, gettyng a peny truly.
3. In accordance with the fact; truthfully; correctly (in reference to a statement).
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2712. Trewely to swere hys oþe.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 329. By that well hinges a bacyne … With a cheyne, trewly to tell.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 223 b. The people thus instructed (or as I may trulier speake) deceiued.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 180. Tell me truely how thou lik’st her. Ibid., IV. i. 76. Bid her answer truly. Ibid. (1607), Cor., V. iv. 27. Yes, mercy, if you report him truly.
a. 1718. Penn, Truth Rescued, II. Wks. 1726, I. 494. [Words] truliest apply’d to Himself.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xvii. An elegy that may truly be called tragical.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 88. Unable to decide which of you speaks truly.
4. In accordance with a rule or standard; exactly, accurately, precisely, correctly.
1375. in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 138/2. Fro Moyses to Dauid kyng Fyue hondred & two [years],… To kounten riȝt trewely.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., e v. Trulier they shal be blasit on this wyse.
1535. Joye, Apol. Tindale (Arb.), 20. Correcking a false Copie … that thei mought be the trwelyer printed agen.
1696. Whiston, Th. Earth, II. (1722), 131. The little Planets about Jupiter move in Orbits truly Circular.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 10. A long rod is … of more use … provided it is truly made.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 593/2. To make the spindle run truly.
b. Rightly, justly, duly; as it ought to be, properly; often in phrase well and truly.
1417. York Memo. Bk. (Surtees), I. 182. Sufficiant recorde that he es wele and lely and treuly partyd fra thiens whare he come fra.
1531. Tindale, Exp. 1 John ii. (1537), 29. Wyl ye therfore worship saintes truely?
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., VII. (S.T.S.), II. 47. Quhen he saw [them] … as tha war worthie, treulie tormented.
a. 1647. Habington, Surv. Worc., in Worcs. Hist. Soc. Proc., III. 535. After whose death it [some land] returned truely to the monastery.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, Introd. 4. Every action … is capable of a peculiar dignity … which we sometimes express by saying that it is truly done (as a line or tone is true).
c. Rightfully, legitimately. Obs. or merged in 5.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. ii. 26. To giue Obedience, where ’tis truly ow’d. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., III. ii. 135. His innocent Babe truly begotten.
d. In accordance with nature, naturally.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. iv. 55. If you will see a pageant truely plaid.
1884. Church, Bacon, ix. 219. A sketch so truly and forcibly drawn.
e. Without cross-breeding; purely; also, without variation from the ancestral type.
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 63. Very fine truly-bred birds.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., i. (1866), 17. The greyhound, bloodhound, [etc.] propagate their kind truly.
5. Genuinely, really, actually, in fact, in reality; sincerely, unfeignedly.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 5. Men þat trewly dispisen synne.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., V. iv. 76. I doe as truely suffer, As ere I did commit.
1682. Norris, Hierocles, 35. So may we learn to know what we ourselves truly are.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 79, ¶ 9. A Mind truly virtuous.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem. (1862), III. 236. The view that they were truly alcohol radicles.
1874. Motley, Barneveld, II. xviii. 276. Nothing could be more truly respectable.
1908. Miss Fowler, Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 231. She truly believed … that he [her donkey] liked the thistles best.
b. Used to emphasize a statement (sometimes as a mere expletive): Indeed, forsooth, verily.
c. 1205. Lay., 20720. Arður [etc.] þene wude al bileien … Treo uppen oðer Treoliche faste.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23952 (Edin.). Of hir trewlik es al mi tale.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2094. ‘Bot treuly, ser,’ quod þe duke, ‘gret tresore me thinke At Alexander þe athill.’
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, III. 268. Ane awfull chyftane trewly he is ane.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. i. 322. Truely I will not goe first: truely-la: I will not doe you that wrong.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, III. Wks. 1873, III. 399. Never in our lives trooly.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 521. Charge not a God with such outrageous wrong. Truly, not I.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xli. ‘Is he dead?’ ‘Ay, truly is he.’
1869. Ruskin, Q. of Air, iii. § 146. A wide freedom, truly!
† c. Hence as quasi-sb. in phr. by (upon) my truly, in (good) truly, used as a kind of oath or asseveration. (In quot. 1594, ? a person who uses ‘truly’ as an asseveration.) colloq. Obs.
1580. G. Harvey, Two Lett., Wks. (Grosart), I. 42. By my truely, I was neuer so scared in my lyfe.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. (Grosart), V. 86. Hee … was one of those trecherous brother Trulies.
1604. Webster, Westw. Hoe, II. i. Have you a new pen for me, master? for, by my truly, my old one is stark naught.
1672. Wycherley, Love in Wood, I. i. Patience,… ’tis a necessary virtue for a widow without a jointure, in truly.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, V. v. Why, in good truly, as a body may say, he is but a slam.
1795. Jemima, I. 110. Part, repeated Rosina, yes, by my truly must we.
d. In phr. yours truly, the most formal of the phrases used in subscribing a letter; hence humorously = ‘myself.’
[1638. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 15. And with this I solemnly assure you that I truely am Sir Yrs &c.]
1788. Burns, Lett. to R. Brown, 24 Feb. Believe me to be, My dear Sir, yours most truly, R. B.
1817. Scott, Lett. to Miss J. Baillie, 26 Sept., in Lockhart. Yours truly, W. S.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, iii. Give the young one a glass,… and score it up to yours truly.
1850. De Morgan, Lett. to Sir J. Herschel, 26 March, in Mem., vii. (1882), 209. Yours very truly, A. De Morgan.
