a. in OE. ciriclíc, cf. Ger. kirchlich; in 16th c. re-formed on CHURCH sb. + -LY1.] Of, pertaining to, or befitting the or a church; ecclesiastical.
O. E. Chron., an. 716. Þat hie Eastron on ryht heoldon, and þa ciriclecan scare.
c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, V. xxiv. (Bosw.). Ðæt cyriclice stær ures ealondes and þeode ic wrat on fif bec.
c. 1000. Wanley’s Catal., 118/2 (Bosw.). Mid circlicum þenungum.
1565. Harding, in Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 119. Hee was not lawfully made Priest, nor with Churchly laying on of hands consecrated.
a. 1600. in Reader, 23 June (1866), 601. Ony boke belle or lyght or any other churchly ornamentes.
1714. Gay, Proeme to Sheph. Week (1784), 124. Diverse grave points also hath he handled of Churchly matter.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 748. Munificence To Church and all things churchly.
1885. Sat. Rev., 3 Oct., 459. We could wish such ugly barbarisms or neologisms as ‘churchly’ … had been eschewed.
