Somewhat arch. Forms: 4 lou(e)lich, louli, 4–7 north. lawly, -lie, (7 laulie), 6 lowely, lowlie, 4– lowly. [f. LOW a. + -LY1.]
1. Humble in feeling or demeanor; not proud or ambitious.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 142. She to him so louly was and trewe.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 227. For loulich he loketh and loueliche is his speche.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 21034. Yiff thow do to myn Image, Lowly worshepe and homage.
a. 1450. in Shillingford Lett. (Camden), 132. Y … byseke yow yn the lowlokyst wyse that [etc.].
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1664. Wallace on kne, with lawly obeysance.
1535. Coverdale, Micah vi. 8. To be lowly, and to walke with thy God.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. i. 110. ’Twas neuer merry world, Since lowly feigning was call’d complement.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. cl. 3 Annot. 719. Without the lowlyest posture of the body.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 18, ¶ 3. The Pope has written to the French King on the Subject of a Peace, and his Majesty has answered in the lowliest Terms.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 93. God accounts him proud; High in demand, though lowly in pretence.
absol. 1535. Coverdale, Prov. iii. 34. He shal geue grace vnto the lowly.
1611. Bible, ibid. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giueth grace vnto the lowly.
2. Humble in condition or quality. Usually with some notion of sense 1: Modest, unpretending.
1634. Milton, Comus, 323. Courtesie … is sooner found in lowly sheds … then in tapstry Halls.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 141. All the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturbed retirement … knows.
1791. J. Learmont, Poems, 278. I’d sit fu’ happy i’ my lowly ben.
1802. Wordsw., Sonn., ‘Milton! thou should’st be living.’ Thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., iv. (1873), 98. The continued existence of lowly organisms offers no difficulty.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. iii. 23. I put up at a very lowly inn.
1871. G. V. Smith, Bible & Pop. Theol., xi. 116. They remembered the origin of Jesus and saw his lowly condition.
1871. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 143. The sons of Harold who were within the walls of Exeter came of a lowlier and doubtful stock.
absol. 1725. Pope, Odyss., VIII. 600. Say … what the name you bore … (For from the natal hour distinctive names, One common right, the great and lowly claims).
1852. Mrs. Stowe (title), Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly.
3. Low in situation or growth; usually with allusion to sense 1. (Cf. HUMBLE a.)
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. iv. 21. Thy Sunne sets weeping in the lowly West.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., IV. 2. Lowly Shrubs and Trees that shade the Plain, Delight not all.
1715. Pope, Iliad, II. 638. Those who dwell … where Boagrius floats the lowly Lands.
1728–46. Thomson, Spring, 449. Where purple violets lurk With all the lowly children of the shade.
a. 1729. Congreve, Mourn. Muse Alexis, Wks. 1730, III. 208. As lofty Pines o’ertop the lowly Reed, So did her graceful Height all Nymphs exceed.
1852. Whittier, Question of Life, 123. In lowliest depths of bosky dells The hermit Contemplation dwells.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxvii. (1856), 225. And the sun, albeit from a lowly altitude, shone out in full brightness.
b. ? nonce-use. ? Lying low.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. iii. 47. As lookes the Mother on her lowly Babe, When Death doth close his tender dying Eyes.
¶ 4. occas. Low in character, mean.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 124. This proud letter of the lowly Lady Davers … Lowly, I say, because she could stoop to such vain pride.
1843. G. P. R. James, Forest Days (1847), 289. His name was never stained with any lowly act.
5. Comb., as lowly-built, -lovely, -minded (hence lowly-mindedness), adjs.
a. 1822. Shelley, Tear, iv. 3. Over thy *lowly-built sepulchre bending.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 168. She—so *lowly-lovely and so loving.
1540. Coverdale, Fruitf. Less., i. (1593), K3 b. Christ … teacheth vs to bee *lowly minded and humble.
1859. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., II. lxxxvii. 57. The stamp of lowly-mindedness.
