manly

From Middle English manly, manli, manlich, from Old English *manlīċ (suggested by adverb manlīċe (“in a way befitting a person; nobly, stately”)), from Proto-Germanic *mannlīkaz, equivalent to man +‎ -ly.

Cognate with Old High German manlīh (“manly”) (German männlich), Dutch mannelijk, Old Norse mannligr (“human”) (Danish mandlig, Swedish manlig).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmænli/

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manly (comparative manlier, superlative manliest)

1. Having the characteristics of a man.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene vi:

     what God or Feend, or ſpirit of the earth,
     Or Monſter turned to a manly ſhape,
     Or of what mould or mettel he be made,
     What ſtar or ſtate ſoeuer gouern him,
     Let vs put on our meet incountering mindes, […]

2. Having qualities viewed as befitting a man; courageous, resolute, noble.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     Let's briefly put on manly readiness.

   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifteenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     Serene and manly, harden'd to sustain / The load of life.

   • 2001, Thomas W. Smith, Revaluing Ethics: Aristotle's Dialectical Pedagogy, page 86:

     Without a successful defense of one's city, none of the other virtues would be possible; manly courage seems to be a precondition for anything else worth achieving in life.

• womanly

• Lyman, Lynam, Malyn

From Old English *manlīċ, from Proto-West Germanic *mannlīk, from Proto-Germanic *mannlīkaz; equivalent to man +‎ -ly (adjectival suffix).

• maneli, manli, manlich, manliche, monly
• monlich (Early Middle English)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmanliː/, /ˈmɔnliː/, /-lit͡ʃ/

manly

1. Human; pertaining to humankind.
2. Male, masculine; pertaining to men.
3. Having qualities befitting a man; courageous, resolute, noble.

• English: manly
• Scots: manly

• “manlī, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old English manlīċe; equivalent to mon +‎ -ly (adverbial suffix).

• manleche, manli, manlich, manliche, manlie, manlik, manlike, manneleche, mannely, monlik, monly
• (Early Middle English) monliche

• IPA^(key): /ˈmanliː/, /ˈmɔndliː/, /-liːtʃ(ə)/

manly

1. In a human or civilised way.
2. In a way befitting a man; courageously, resolutely, nobly.
3. (rare) In a male or masculine way.

• “manlī, adv.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.