Widely

adv. [f. WIDE a. + -LY².]

  Commonly hyphened to a following ppl. or other adj. when preceding its sb.: cf. DEEPLY adv. 7, HIGHLY adv. 6.

  1.  Over or through a wide space or region; in or to various places; extensively.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, I. 559. Her … dishevel’d Hair,… widely spread Ambrosial Scents around. Ibid. (1697), Virg. Georgic, IV. 768. Where he leap’d, the Waves in Circles widely spread.

1748.  Thomson, Cast. Indol., I. xxxi. All the widely-silent places round.

1802.  R. Warner, Tour Northern Counties, II. 289. Ornamenting the widely-extended carpet of green with occasional spots of the most brilliant white.

1855.  Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat., 83. The coal measures … are widely distributed in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; in Belgium, France, and Spain; in many parts of Western Germany [etc.].

1883.  Keane, in Nature, 1 March, 410/1. This widely-ramifying family.

  2.  Over a wide range; among a large number or variety of persons; in relation to many or various things, subjects, cases, etc.; extensively.

1695.  Ld. Preston, Boeth., II. 85. For though his Fame doth widely fly,… At last the mighty thing must die.

a. 1718.  Prior, Ode to Queen, ii. When bright Eliza rul’d Britannia’s State, Widely distributing Her high Commands.

1834.  Lyte, Hymn, ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,’ iii. Praise Him, praise Him, Widely as His mercy flows.

1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, First of May. The widely-spread taste for register-stoves.

1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 33. Viscount Mordaunt, widely renowned, many years later, as Earl of Peterborough. Ibid., 122. One tract … was widely circulated in manuscript.

1862.  Burton, Bk. Hunter (1863), 12. The drunken laird and the widely tolerant wife.

1915.  W. C. Allen, Gosp. St. Mark, 67. The Semitic word … is used very widely of seas, lakes, and even rivers.

  3.  With (at, by) a wide interval or intervals (of space or time); far, far apart; to a great or considerable width.

1663.  Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxiii. (1687), 240. Two Hills … which were … very widely distant the one from the other.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, III. 927. We … widely shun the Lilybæan Strand, Unsafe, for secret Rocks, and moving Sand.

1779.  Mirror, No. 13, ¶ 7. The poetical productions of widely-distant periods of society.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xlviii. Those widely staring eyes … appeared in the midst of the darkness.

1860.  Wraxall, Life in Sea, i. 24. Widely-extended jaws.

1875.  Whitney, Life Lang., ix. 157. Widely-sundered castes and classes.

1879.  Sweet, in Trans. Philol. Soc., 465. In loud declamation … the mouth is naturally opened widelier.

1890.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xviii. Through the widely-opened gateways.

  4.  fig. To a large extent, greatly, very much, extremely, ‘far’; esp. † (a) so as to be ‘wide of the mark,’ with large deviation from accuracy, as in widely mistaken; (b) so as to be far apart in nature, character, amount, etc., as in widely different, to differ widely.

1688.  Bunyan, Heavenly Footman (1886), 154. Alas, thou art widely mistaken!

1705.  Berkeley, Commonpl. Bk., Wks. 1871, IV, 459. Malbranch … differs widely from me.

1802.  Maria Edgeworth, Moral T., Forester, viii. Negligence and inhumanity are widely different.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., viii. She must indeed be widely changed from what she once was.

1880.  Geikie, Phys. Geog., iv. 242. The proportion of mineral matter … differs widely in different springs.

  † 5.  With ‘latitude’ of conduct, beyond the bounds of propriety, uncivilly: cf. WIDE a. 11 a. Obs. rare^–1.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 6 Aug. My Lord … did treat her … very widely and ungenteely.