Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Fearful; terrible.
- Unexpected; sudden.
- Singular; wonderful; extraordinary.
- n. A wonder; a strange deed, event, or object.
- n. Wonder; astonishment.
- n. A fault.
- Fearfully; singularly; wonderfully.
- Suddenly; hastily; quickly.
- To wonder.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete Astonishment, surprise, wonder, wonderfulness, unexpected.
- n. obsolete No wonder, not surprisingly.
- adj. obsolete Unexpected, sudden, terrible, amazing, great or numerous, very.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete Singular; wonderful; extraordinary.
Etymologies
- From Middle English fērlī ("astonishing, surprising, unexpected"), Old English fǣrliċ ("sudden, unexpected"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Whereupon the Heelandman bought a Kilmarnock nichtcap, price elevenpence happeny, frae Mr. Weft, and paid him wi 'part of the very note that brocht on the ferly I hae just been relating.”
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 275, September 29, 1827
“Fra 'witches and warlocks," I solemnly intoned, "fra 'wurricoos and evil speerits, and fra' a 'ferly things that wheep and gang bump in the nicht, Guid Lord deliver us!”
“Lord, ye'll have all the folk staring as if we were some ferly.”
“It is nae mair ferly [137] to see a woman greit than to see a goose go barefit.”
“Weel, lassie, I reckon that wasna ony ferly (_strange occurrence_)!”
“By Allah, ne'er beheld my eyes a face so ferly fair * Amid mankind whoever are, Arab or Ajamí.”
“Ho thou in lover's loving ferly fair, * Cut is the road for those”
“Seems ferly fair to all admiring orbs * You seemly body wi 'the slender throat.”
“At nausrht they'll ferly; senseless tales believe.”
Internet Archive: The gentle shepherd : a Scots pastoral comedy
“By Allah, ne’er beheld my eyes a face so ferly fair”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ferly’.
-
Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
Better Words
Extremely fond of adjectives. To conquer phlegmatic speech and indolent phrases.
auric, hemispherical, quadrivial, adumbral, weighty, deuced, aliquot, commendable, anterior, osculant, ferly, enceinte and 26 more...
-
difficult words
ordure, tatterwallop, callipygian, odious, colophon, cynosure, hardener, emollience, valetudinarian, demonym, volage, polysemantic and 256 more...
-
There's a word for that?
temerity, tacit, froward, faineant, caterwaul, menagerie, ennui, sine qua non, lissom, multifarious, laconic, katzenjammer and 240 more...
-
Oh them words, them words
My fancies, my cudgels.
liquescent, ferly, lamia, basilisk, trigon, fantast, stirp, tristesse, enfleurage, stemma, formicary, lacrimation and 346 more...
-
Useful Words
I can use these.
aptronym, haplology, ectopia, folderol, volute, caryatid, spandrel, pendulous, miasmic, gelid, dotty, anomie and 256 more...
-
rememberers
prolix, ageusia, animadversion, anodyne, antic, arabesque, beadle, brachymetropia, colophon, desquamation, diaphoresis, diegesis and 3250 more...
-
Words featured in Mrs. Byrne's Dictio...
Selections from Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Preposterous Words by Josefa Heifetz Byrne (University Books, 1974). Definitions in the comments when not available elsewhere.
apanthropy, anoetic, aristology, ayne, bibliopole, bibliotaph, calecannon, caoine, catlap, chirospasm, clamjamfry, coadunate and 174 more...
-
Words
Words to revisit
meliorate, ameliorate, ubiquitous, homologate, urbane, parergon, enmity, prevarication, karoshi, detritus, capitulate, luftmensch and 56 more...
-
Blood Matters?
legerdemain, eidolon, soucouyant, grawlix, foin, thanatism, chichevache, uloid, vellicate, victimate, bildungsroman, lambent and 63 more...
-
Wonderbursts
ravel, unravel, revel, ambrosial, ponder, delirious, outfaring, cader, reveal, chimerical, nirvana, ruminate and 29 more...
-
001
sea-gate, short-breathed, rose-fever, fever, wanderlust, densely, sweetheart, quietsome, limn, blithely, aglimmer, exhausted and 49 more...
-
Welcome in Wonderland
Real words that I think would fit right into Wonderland/Underland vocabulary. Because I'm a geeky fangirl and that's how I roll. ^_^
widdershins, kenspeckle, thropple, whigmaleerie, swither, kerfuffle, stravaig, guddle, tapsalteerie, clashmaclavers, murgullie, umbersorrow and 37 more...
-
quaint pickings
a compilation of goodies found while browsing wordnik.
-
Excelsior! (Crazy Words for Mundane T...
You know...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ferly.
fbharjo simply wonderful Sep 28, 2008