“Gradely, decently, orderly.  Sax. grad, grade, ordo.  Rather, Mr. Turner says, from Sax. gradlie upright; gradely in Lanc., he observes, is an adjective simplifying everything respectable.  The Lancashire people say, our canny is nothing to it.”

The word itself is very familiar to me, as I have often received a scolding for some boyish, and therefore not very wise or orderly prank, in these terns:—­“One would think you were not altogether gradely,” or, as it was sometimes varied into, “You would make one believe you were not right in your head;” meaning, “One would think you had not common sense.”

H. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

Gradely.—­This word is not only used in Yorkshire, but also very much in Lancashire, and the rest of the north of England.  I have always understood it to mean “good,” “jolly,” “out and out.”  Its primary meaning is “orderly, decently.” (See Richardson’s Dictionary.) The French have grade; It. and Sp., grado; Lat. gradus.

AREDJID KOOEZ.

Gradely.—­This word, in use in Lancashire and Yorkshire, means grey-headedly, and denotes such wisdom as should belong to old age.  A child is admonished to do a thing gradely, i.e. with the care and caution of a person of experience.

E.H.

Gradely.—­In Webster’s and also in Richardson’s Dictionaries it is defined, “orderly, decently.”  It is a word in common use in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and also Cheshire.  A farmer will tell his men to do a thing gradely, that is, “properly, well.”

G.W.N.

Gradely.—­In Carr’s Craven Dialect appears “Gradely, decently.”  It is also used as an adjective, “decent, worthy, respectable.”

2.  Tolerably well, “How isto?” “Gradely.” Fr. Gre, “satisfaction”; a mon gre.

S.N.

Gradely.—­Holloway[3] derives gradely from the Anglo-Saxon Grade, a step, order, and defines its meaning, “decently.”  He, however, fixes its paternity in the neighbouring county of York.

In Collier’s edition of Tim Bobbin it is spelt greadly, and means “well, right, handsomely.”

    “I connaw tell the greadly, boh I think its to tell fok by.”—­p. 42.

    “So I seete on restut meh, on drank meh pint o ele; boh as I’r naw
    greadly sleekt, I cawd for another,” &c.—­p. 45.

    “For if sitch things must be done greadly on os teh aught to bee,”
    &c.—­p. 59.

Mr. Halliwell[4] defined it, “decently, orderly, moderately,” and gives a recent illustration of its use in a letter addressed to Lord John Russell, and distributed in the Manchester Free Trade Procession.  It is dated from Bury, and the writer says to his lordship,—­

    “Dunnot be fyert, mon, but rapt eawt wi awt uts reef, un us Berry
    foke’ll elp yo as ard as we kon.  Wayn helps Robdin, un wayn elp yo, if
    yoan set obeawt yur work gradely.”