gradely

[prettygoodword]

gradely (GRAYD-lee) - (Brit. dial.) adj., fine, excellent, proper.


I'm seeing this marked as both Northern England and Midlands dialect, and suspect it's both. Either way, this is a localized survival of a word more common in Middle English, greithly & greiþli & other spelling variants, ready/prompt/excellent, from Old Norse greiðligr, ready, from greiða, to make ready/prepare, from Germanic roots -- which is an interesting and subtle shift over the years. And no, nothing to do with "grandly" at all.

---L.

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

So it’s an adjective, in the fashion of “goodly”, “bubbly”, or “lovely.” (The majority of surviving words in English with the suffix -ly tend to be adverbs.)

[prettygoodword]

It can also be used as an adverb, but apparently is much less so. In its original formation, it was adverbial, but already primarily an adjective in Middle English.

I now want to tell all the civil and transportation engineers

[jesse_the_k]

of my acquaintance so they can expound on gradely street design!

Re: I now want to tell all the civil and transportation engineers

[prettygoodword]

Hee!