[OE. clǽnlíc: see -LY2.] In a clean manner; in various senses of the adj.: without dirt or stain, purely, chastely, innocently, clearly, neatly, exactly, etc.
c. 1200. Winteney Rule St. Benet (1888), 107. Gyf þæt clænlice and mid ande don hi.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 26432. Yit quat o man es clenli scriuen.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxvii. (1495), 719. They clensyth woundes and heelyth ful clenly.
1473. Warkw., Chron., 11. Noȝt so clenly kepte as schuld seme suche a Prince.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), II. 212. Them clenlyer to dyght.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., V. iv. 169. Ile purge … and liue cleanly, as a Nobleman should do.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, II. (1723), 98. As the sacred Writer cleanly and modestly expresses it.
1883. Proctor, in Knowledge, 6 July, 12/2. It [a telescope] comes sharply and cleanly into focus.
1886. Book-lore, March, 108–9. Twenty-seven folio volumes … had been so cleanly drilled through by the larva of this beetle, that a string might be run through the hole.
† b. Completely, wholly, entirely, quite; = CLEAN adv. 5. Obs.
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia, VIII. 322. Gif þær beon læs manna þonne þæt lamb mæʓe fretan, þonne nyme he hys neahʓebur þe him ʓehendost sy, þæt he mæʓe þæt lamb clænlice fretan.
c. 1275. Lay., 26148. Þo was Arthur his ferde Clanliche igadered.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 434. Heo clanlyche yt versok.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15556. Al þe care yee nu sal haf, Clenli yee sal for-gett.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 341. Al his ofspringe … was clenliche destroyed.
c. 1400. Melayne, 494. Alle that was than in that place Thay slewe clenly.
1560. Rolland, Crt. Venus, II. 741. For ay mirth clenlie I quitclame.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. vi. § 24. At this time Church-men cleanly carried the cognisance of such offences.
† c. Ably; cleverly, adroitly, artfully. Obs.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 77. They will read you their seruice faire and cleanly.
1591. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 862. With which he thousands cleanly coosined.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T. (1613), 186. Cleanly coined lies.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 528. They cleanly and slily winde themselves out of the authority of God.
