cleverly
UK /ˈklɛvəli/ · US /ˈklɛvɚli/ adverb, proper noun
Forms Cleverlys Cleverley
- adverb Wittily; in a tricky manner. “He joked cleverly with each guest.”
- adverb Intelligently directed to a purpose. “Cleverly, he found ways of ingratiating himself with all the important guests.”
- adverb (now US dialect) Completely, fully.
- proper noun A surname from Old English.
Synonyms
Etymology
From clever + -ly.
Perhaps a variant of Cleveley, through an irregular development, or a possibly a habitational surname from a lost or unidentified place in Hampshire, from Old English clǣfre (“clover”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”) and thus equivalent to clover + -ley (“lea”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cleverly”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details