or plaguily, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Troublesome; annoying; ‘deuced’; very.
1580. SIDNEY, Arcadia, iii. Most wicked woman, that hast so PLAGUILY a corrupted mind as thou … must most wickedly infect others.
16[?]. Sir Eglamore [CHILD, Ballads, viii. 197].
| This dragon he had a PLAGUY hide, | |
| Which could both sword and spear abide. |
1601. WEBSTER, A Cure for a Cuckold, ii. 3. Comp. What PLAGUY boys are bred now-a-days!
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3, 187. He is so PLAGUY proud that the death-tokens of it cry ‘No recovery.’
c. 1608. FLETCHER, The Humourous Lieutenant, ii. 2. I am hurt PLAGUILY. Ibid. (1617), The Mad Lover, v. 4. Oh, ’twas a PLAGUY thump, charg’d with a vengeance.
1709. STEELE, Tatler, No. 55. He looked PLAGUY sour at me.
1711. SWIFT, The Journal to Stella, 3 Oct., xxxi. He was PLAGUILY afraid and humbled.
1768. GOLDSMITH, The Good-Natured Man, ii. You’re so PLAGUY shy that one would think you had changed sexes.
1843–4. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Attaché, xix. ‘Squire,’ said Slick, ‘I’d a PLAGUY sight sooner see Ascot than anything else in England.
