A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1499-1500, 1590-1658
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Soundly, -lie, adv. Also: sondlye, sundly. [Late ME and e.m.E. soundly (c1400); Sound adj.]
1. Of sleeping: Deeply, profoundly. Cf. Sound adv. 2. a1400 Legends of the Saints xvii 309.
Nodir was he slepand … sundly Na ȝet vakkand al fullely a1500 Henr. Orph. 543.
And in the nycht slepe soundly may thai noucht a1500 King Hart 85.
This cumlie court … Full sendill sad or soundlie set to sleip
2. Securely, safely. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i 4.
Sweete Ambrosian nectar soundly wrapt in my lock'd closet
3. In contexts of suffering or inflicting punishment: Thoroughly, amply. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i 38.
We had payd soundly for his leachery c1650 Spalding I 94.
He trublit the merchandis at Bartholomew fair and causit them to pay soundlie 1658 Banff Ann. I 140.
To be soundlie whippit
4. In an honest, upright manner; honestly, decently. c1590 Fowler II 121/5.
How comendable … it is for a prence to keip his faith and liue sondlye with intergitie [sic] and vprigh[t]nes
5. ? Heartily; ? willingly; ? emphatically. 1590 Lett. Jas. VI to Bruce 283.
And yet will we soundlie concoure amangis our selfis thair luk will be na better this yeir nor forinyeir
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"Soundly adv.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/soundly>
