stilly meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

stilly

adj

silent; calm

The stilly murmur of the distant Sea Tells us of silence.1795, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Eolian Harp, lines 11–12:
The dead--in holy, stilly peace, the sacred dead repose, Afar from earth's turmoil and grief, and all of sick'ning woes; From racking pain, and withering pride, and avarice's care, Secure they rest in solitude, unaw'd by sin or snare.1828, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 12,:

3 more examples

Long was the darkness, Lonely and stilly.1879, Anthony Trollope, Thackeray:
Crickets sang of nights in the stilly cabins, and in the sunshine mosquitoes crept from out hollow logs […].1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows:
[…] Marjorie used Central to call as many of her neighbors that were also on the exchange as she could, telling them of the disaster which had fallen like a lightning-stroke out of a clear sky, knowing that each call would produce overlapping ripples, like pebbles tossed rapidly into a stilly pond.1996, Stephen King, chapter 4, in The Green Mile, Pocket Books edition:

adv

Etymology From still + -ly.

While still and calm.

She passed away very stilly and painlessly.1868, George A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone;:
The river, too, was colored, and every tree was like a torch burning stilly in the quiet of the evening.1902, Mary Johnston, Audrey:

1 more example

When she arrived at the white boat which floated so stilly on the morning glitter of the water, only just stirred by a breeze from the south, she stepped at once on board.1921, S.R. Crockett, Bog-Myrtle and Peat: