1. Pertaining to the earth, terrestrial. Chiefly and now almost exclusively with implied opposition to heavenly.
971. Blickl. Hom., 43. Þæm wiþerweardan beoþ þæs mannes synna ʓecwemran þonne eal eorþlic goldhord.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvi. 29. Witodlice ic secʓe eow þæt ic ne drince heonunforð of þysum eorþlican wine.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 39. Þet þu luuie þine drihten ofer … alle eorðliche þing.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 155, in Trin. Coll. Hom., 224. Eðlate him ware al wele and erðeliche blisse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1157. Hou suld ani erdli fless Duelle wid þe in sikirness.
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 3344. Erþliche man semeþ he nouȝt … Boute a fend stolen out of helle.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, I. xxx. (1859), 33. Man, of heuenly nature and erdely very partyner, knytteth to geders bothe heuen and erthe.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 1. A pilgrym that entendeth to go to the erthly Jerusalem.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 115. Then is there mirth in heauen, When earthly things made eauen attone together.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., iv. § 23, Wks. 1871, II. 171. This earthly globe is but a point in respect of the whole system of God’s creation.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., II. xxxv. The pageant pomp of earthly man.
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., i. 1. [The Church] has taken her own way in claiming earthly sovereignty.
b. Of or belonging to the material or lower elements of human nature.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cxiv. For she [knowledge] is earthly of the mind.
1858. Robertson, Lect., ii. 191. This influence of the religious element of the imagination on the earthlier feeling.
c. As an emphatic expletive; = ‘on earth.’
1753. Stewart’s Trial, in Scots Mag., March, 132/2. What earthly purpose could the pannel serve by such a … piece of villany?
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., iv. 36. If a man were alone on an island,… the precious metals would be of no earthly use.
d. Like or resembling the earth. rare.
1836. Lytton, Athens (1837), I. 304. He [Thales] maintained the stars and sun to be earthly.
e. As quasi-sb. with pl.: A terrestrial being. rare.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 177. So, let all earthlies and celestials wait Upon thy royal state!
† 2. Existing or living in or on the ground. Obs.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iii. 17. Richard cry’de,… A Scepter, or an Earthly Sepulchre.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1103. Some earthly Insects that have no feet are bred in the earth, some in living creatures.
† 3. Partaking of the nature of earth, resembling earth as a substance, consisting of earth as an element; = EARTHY. arch. or Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. xi. 96. Yf unkind melancoly hath maystry … soure sauour and sharpe and erthly is felt in the mouth.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 107 b. Penny ryall … is made of a fyrie substance with som burnt erthly part.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xiv. 335. The roote is … couered with a thicke rinde or barke, of a browne earthly colour without.
1614. W. B., Philos. Banquet (ed. 2), 15. The gristles are … more earthly, drie, and hard, then Liguaments.
1644. Prynne & Walker, Fiennes’s Trial, App. 11. He said the mount whereon the Castle stood was of an earthly substance for a certaine depth.
1655–60. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 64/2. That ‘Creatures were first Generated of Humidity, Calidity, and Earthly Matter.’
1770. Priestley, in Phil. Trans., LX. 222. Metals and charcoal agree in consisting of phlogiston united to an earthly base.
1771. N. Nicholls, Corr. w. Gray (1843), 131. An earthly smell came in, exhaled by the sun from the loose and fermenting mould.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xlvi. (1856), 423. No earthly covering masks the grinning rocks of Proven.
† b. Pale or lifeless as earth. Obs.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., II. iii. 229. A precious Ring … Doth shine vpon the dead mans earthly cheekes.
1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 394. Nor so airy [English horses] as the Spanish genets … nor so earthly as those in the Low Countries.
† 4. Made of earth or baked clay; = EARTHEN. rare and doubtful.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 143. Erthly [P. or of erthe made], terrenus, terrestris.
1533. Frith, Anoth. Bk. agst. Rastell, 333. We have this … treasure in frail, brittle, and earthly vessels.
5. Comb. Earthly-minded a., having the affections fixed on the earth, worldly-minded; whence Earthly-mindedness. Earthly-wise adv. (nonce-wd.), in an earthly manner.
1593. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., I. xi. (1611), 35. To be earthly minded men.
a. 1665. J. Goodwin, Filled w. Spirit (1867), 7. An earthly fulness, which … the children of this world, or earthly-minded men, do affect and set their hearts upon.
1670. Eachard, Cont. Clergy, 93. A very earthly-minded Man, and too much sighted into this lower World.
1608. Hieron, Wks., I. 749. Suppresse within me all earthly-mindednesse.
1691. Norris, Pract. Disc., 258. That particular sort of Earthly-mindedness which we call Covetousness.
1874. Tennyson, Holy Grail, 627. I speak too earthlywise, Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell.
