foxly
English
Etymology
From Middle English *foxlich (compare Middle English foxliche (adverb)) equivalent to fox + -ly.
Adjective
foxly (comparative more foxly, superlative most foxly)
- (archaic) Like, resembling, or characteristic of a fox; vulpine.
- 1917, Henry Handel Richardson, Australia Felix:
- His foxly object was attained. The attention of the hunters was diverted.
- 1968, Hugh Latimer, Allan Griffith Chester, Selected Sermons of Hugh Latimer:
- But the children of this world have worldly policy, foxly craft, lionlike cruelty, power to do hurt more than either aspis or basiliscus, engendering and doing all things fraudulently, […]
- 2008, Joseph R. Conlin, The American Past: A Survey of American History:
- Howe and the army settled into New York where the population was friendly, including a huge contingent of prostitutes whom both Americans and British described as a terrifying lot: “bitch foxly jades, hogs, strums.”
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Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for foxly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Anagrams
- oxfly