Obs. Forms: 1 ʓelíce, 2 ȝelic(h)e, 3–5 iliche, yliche, 4–5 ilike, 4–7 ylike, etc. (cf. prec.); also 4 eliche, elike, elyke, 5 yeliche. [OE. ʓelíce = OS. gilico (MDu. gelike, Du. gelijk), OHG. galîhho, g(i)lîcho (MHG. g(e)lîche, g(e)lîch, G. gleich), Goth. galeikô; f. prec.]
1. Similarly; likewise; alike; equally. Ever ylike: unceasingly, continuously.
971. Blickl. Hom., 119. Ne wæron þas ealle ʓelice lange.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xx. 5. Eft he ut-eode embe þa sixtan & niʓoþan tide & dyde þam swa ʓelice.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 66 (Trin. Coll. MS.). Africh man mid þat he haueð mai bugge heueriche Þe þe more haueð and þe þe lasse boðe iliche.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 152. Þat water of baþe is þat on þat euere is iliche hot.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIX. 436. Al tymes ylyke.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt’s T., 1668. Til that the Thebane knyghtes bothe yliche Honured, were in to the paley’s fet. Ibid. (c. 1391), Astrol., III. § 39. The longitude of a clymat ys a lyne ymagined fro Est to west, illike distant by-twene them alle.
a. 1395. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), I. xxxiv. Who soo is euer ylyke wyse in knowyng of god & ghostly thynges.
c. 1400. Lydg., Chorle & Bird, 48 (MS. Harl. 116). Of lengthe and brede yeliche square and longe.
c. 1403. Clanvowe, Cuckow & Night., 64. The floures and the gras y-lyke hye.
1423. James I., Kingis Q., lxx. Tantalus … That euer ylike hailith at the well Water to draw with buket botemles.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., viii. 106. A bush I se burnand full bryght, and euer elyke the leyfes are greyn.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, c vj b. Take Fenell Maryall and Kersis ilich moch.
2. Const. dative: In the same manner (as), like, as. Also with as (OE. swá), as conj. or conj. adv.
c. 893. Ælfred, Oros., V. vii. § 2. Þe elpendes hyd wile drincan wætan, ʓelice & spynge deð.
971. Blickl. Hom., 17. He him ʓehet his æriste,… ʓelice swa he ær þa þrowunge dyde.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 330. Wusshen and wylnen Alle manere of men mercy and forȝeuenesse, And louye hem yliche hym-sylf.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., May, 4. How falles it then, we no merrier bene, Ylike as others, girt in gawdy greene?
c. 1634. W. Cartwright, Ordinary, II. ii. (1651), 25. If I kissen, These thick stark bristles of mine beard will pricken Ylike the skin of Hownd-fish.
