adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In a curious manner.
1. Carefully, attentively. arch.
1382. Wyclif, Eccl. ix. 1. Alle these thingus I tretede in myn herte, that I vndirstonde curyously.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), vi. 66. Whiche Sepultures the Sarazines kepen fulle curyously.
1483. Caxton, Gold Leg., 430/2. Kepyng hymself ryght curyously fro the … world.
1670. Walton, Lives, I. 19. [She] had been curiously and plentifully educated.
1682. Scarlett, Exchanges, 37. He must curiously observe, if the first and second Advice agree, or not.
1743. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 322. If they [Welch Coal] are curiously burnt, they gingle like common Cinders.
1871. Tennyson, Idylls, Last Tourn., 90. Take thou my churl, and tend him curiously.
2. Inquisitively; pryingly.
1382. Wyclif, 2 Thess. iii. 11. Summe among ȝou … no thing worchinge, but doynge curiously [1611 are busi-bodies].
1869. R. Semmes, Service Afloat, l. 710. Crowds gathered to look curiously upon her.
1886. Besant, Childr. Gibeon, II. xxxi. Lady Mildred listened and watched him curiously, as if trying to read something unexpressed.
3. With careful art, skilfully, elaborately, exquisitely, cunningly. arch.
1340. Ayenb., 176. Leuedis þet zuo curiouseliche agrayþeþ hire heaueden mid preciouse agrayþinges.
c. 1380. Antecrist, in Todd, 3 Treat. Wyclif, 128. Wiþ silver vessel þei ben servyd curiously.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 181. Craft of mannes hand so curiously Arrayed hadde this gardyn.
1570. T. Norton, trans. Nowell’s Catech. (1853), 197. That we seek not and gather together curiously dainty things for banqueting.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 20. The Steeple of S. Maries Church is … Curiously built and carved.
1711. Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), III. 283. The Pontifical most curiously illuminated.
1809–12. Mar. Edgeworth, Madame de Fleury, x. Her curiously wrought ivory toys.
1875. E. White, Life in Christ, IV. xxiv. (1876), 408. It is of far more importance … to preserve the body for ever than to clothe it curiously now.
† b. By art; artificially. Obs. rare.
1615. J. Stephens, Satyr. Ess. (ed. 2), 51. Things curiously Created, differ as much from thinges begotten, as the first Man from birth, and artificiall bodies from mans issue.
4. With minute accuracy, minutely, critically, fastidiously, nicely, delicately, arch.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 91 b. I suppose we neede not to reason any curiouslyer hereof at this present.
1586. Thynne, in Holinshed, II. 405. Curiouslie carping at my barrennes in writing.
1607–12. Bacon, Ess. Studies (Arb.), 8. To be read but not curiously.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 118. Joiners work more curiously, and observe the Rules more exactly, than Carpenters need do.
1823. Scott, Peveril, xv. You should enquire into these matters a little more curiously.
1871. Blackie, Four Phases, i. 85. As if a man should curiously describe the cylinders and the pistons and the wheels, [etc.].
† 5. ‘Nicely,’ finely, excellently, handsomely, beautifully. Obs.
1548. Hall, Chron., 197 b. Richely trapped, and curiouslye armed.
1647. Lilly, Chr. Astrol., clxxxi. 756. The second wife is … curiously handsome.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 233. A Viol full of intoxicating Wine, which both looked and relished curiously.
1670. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 67. The Leaves of the Trees are like green Birch-tree Leaves, curiously sweet.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Syllabub, Let it stand two or three hours, till it settles, and it will eat curiously.
6. In a way that excites interest or surprise; remarkably, strangely, oddly; queerly.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 91. An infinite variety of curiously figur’d Snow.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds (1847), I. 164. The entrance was long, and curiously arched over with the stems of dried grass.
1870. Lowell, Among My Books, Ser. II. (1873), 161. Verses … curiously prophetic of the maturer man.
1875. Jevons, Money (1878), 128. Curiously enough no modern government thought of employing a well-chosen bronze for small money.
