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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.
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.
