Word.ws English Dictionary

lichtly

lichtly adverb: lightly; gently or without great force.

Adverb

lichtly (comparative more lichtly, superlative most lichtly)

  1. (Scotland) lightly; gently or without great force.
    • I will mak a lang ladder, Wi' fifty steps and three, three, I will mak a lang ladder, And lichtly come doun to thee, thee, And lichtly come doun to thee.1827 -, George Ritchie Kinloch, The ballad book
    • Saft in his arms he caught her up, Winsome Annie Ramsay. An' swang her lichtly to the croup, Winsome Annie Ramsay.1851, Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal
  2. (Scotland) In a manner that is not serious.
    • But a wuman wha wad sae misguide the son o' her ain body, an' for naething but that as she had broucht him furth sic he was, — it "s no to be lichtly believed nor lichtly endured.1874, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine: A Popular Journal of General Literature
    • “Dinna speak sae lichtly, Thamas," remonstrated his wife. “1877, Henry Johnston, The Dawsons of Glenara: A Story of Scottish Life, page 38

Verb

lichtly (third-person singular simple present lichtlies, present participle lichtlying, simple past and past participle lichtlied)

  1. (Scotland) To slight; to treat contemptuously or without seriousness.
    • nevertheles the sadis Johnne of Haldane and James, and thar complices, now again has cummyn to the samyn, and masterfully has tain and occupiis thaim, and has of new castin furth thar gudis, corne and catall, but ony resoune, as is allegit, in great lichtlying, contempt, and dissobeying of our...1835, Mark Napier, History of the Partition of the Lennox, page 130
    • This is nae change-hoose, John Munro, And ye needna come nae mair: Ye crookit yer mou', and lichtlied me, Last Wednesday, at the fair."1865, George MacDonald, Alec Forbes of Howglen, page 150

Examples of lichtly in a sentence

  • Than, tae her gret surprise, he touched her hair, sae lichtly that she cud haurdly feel it, an rinnin a finger doonwart, he fund her yae lang braid an pickit it up.2011, Wulf Kurtoglu, Caroline Macafee, Braken Fences, →ISBN, page 63:
  • Weel, time gaed by: and the idler sort commenced to think mair lichtly o' that black business.1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables:
  • You are the first, and I hope the last, That eer made my lord lichtly me.'2013, Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, →ISBN:

Forms of lichtly

Adverb
comparativemore lichtly
superlativemost lichtly
Verb
third-person singular presentlichtlies
present participlelichtlying
past participlelichtlied
pastlichtlied

Questions about lichtly

What does lichtly mean?
Lichtly means lightly; gently or without great force.
How do you use lichtly in a sentence?
Than, tae her gret surprise, he touched her hair, sae lichtly that she cud haurdly feel it, an rinnin a finger doonwart, he fund her yae lang braid an pickit it up.
What part of speech is lichtly?
Lichtly can be an adverb or a verb.

Words near lichtly in the dictionary

  1. Lichtenwalner
  2. Lichtenwalners
  3. Lichterfelde
  4. lichtlied
  5. lichtlies
  6. lichtly
  7. lichtlying
  8. Lichtman
  9. Lichtmans
  10. Lichty
  11. Lichtys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lichtly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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