or cruelly, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Extremely; very; great. A fashionable intensitive; an Americanism by survival. Cf., AWFUL and BEASTLY.
1662. PEPYS, Diary, 31 July. Met Captain Brown, of the ‘Rosebush,’ at which he was CRUEL angry. Ibid., 1666–7, 21 Feb. W. Batten denies all, but is CRUEL mad.
1848. BARTLETT, Dictionary of Americanisms, p. 170. Oh, doctor, I am powerful weak, but CRUEL easy.
