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deadly

adj
/ˈdɛdli/US

Etymology

From Middle English dedly, dedlych, dedlich, from Old English dēadlīċ (adjective), from Proto-West Germanic *dauþalīk, from Proto-Germanic *dauþalīkaz (“deadly”, literally “deathly”). By surface analysis, dead + -ly. Cognate with Saterland Frisian dodelk (“deadly”), West Frisian deadlik (“deadly”), Dutch dodelijk (“deadly”), German tödlich (“deadly”), Swedish dödlig (“deadly, fatal, mortal”), Icelandic dauðlegur (“mortal”). The adverb is from Middle English dedliche, from Old English dēadlīċe (adverb), from the adjective.

  1. inherited from dēadlīċe
  2. inherited from dedliche
  3. inherited from *dauþalīkaz✻ — “deadly”
  4. inherited from *dauþalīk✻
  5. inherited from dēadlīċ
  6. inherited from dedly

Definitions

  1. Subject to death

    Subject to death; mortal.

    • […]he ſuffred hym ſelfe to be made mortall and dedly, that innocent & gyltles in hym ſelfe: he myght be ſlayne & deye for the gylty man.
    • ❧ That when the iournay / of this dedly life / My ſely ghoſte / hath finiſhed and thence[…]
    • And next we find / Ourselves in Heaven. Even man's deadly life / Can be there, by God's leave.

  2. Causing death

    Causing death; lethal.

    • […] others search for new and deadlier gases, or for soluble poisons capable of being produced in such quantities as to destroy the vegetation of whole continents […]
    • The killing of more than 90 journalists in Iraq in 43 months after the invasion was to mark it out as one of the deadliest conflicts to cover.

  3. Aiming or willing to destroy

    Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile.

    • deadly enemies
    • […]diſmount thy tucke, be yare in thy preparation, for thy aſſaylant is quick, skilfull and deadly.
  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. Very accurate (of aiming with a bow, firearm, etc.).

      • For him the gibbet shall be built; For him the stake prepared: Him shall the scorn and wrath of men Pursue with deadly aim ; And malice, envy, spite and lies, Shall desecrate his name.
      • Slaves have been freed, religious tests revoked, Bread tax abolished, and free trade secured, Reform twice carried, franchise much enlarged, With deadly aim to crush foul bribery, And promise given of yet better things.

    2. Very boring.

      • Now, at school, I was forced to sit in classes, to take notes and exams, to use textbooks that were flat, impersonal, deadly.

    3. Excellent, awesome, cool.

    4. Fatally, mortally.

      • [P]erceiving himſelfe deadly wounded by a ſhot received in his body, being by his men perſwaded to come off and retire himſelfe from out the throng, anſwered, he would not now ſo neere his end, beginne to turne his face from his enemie[…]

    5. In a way which suggests death.

      • Her face suddenly became deadly white.

    6. Extremely, incredibly.

      • Though deadly weary, till ſpectators do / At once part and call them good boys too[…]
      • John had got an impreſſion that Lewis was ſo deadly cunning a man, that he was afraid to venture himſelf alone with him.

The neighborhood

Derived

deadlihood, deadlily, deadliness, deadly amanita, deadly carrot, deadly diamond of death, deadly embrace, Deadly Never-Green, deadly nightshade, deadly sin, nondeadly, silent but deadly, undeadly, fail-deadly

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at deadly. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01deadly02lethal03weapon04hunting05killing

A definitional loop anchored at deadly. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at deadly

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA