Hypertext Webster Gateway: "hardly"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Hardly \Hard"ly\, adv. [AS. heardlice. See {Hand}.]
1. In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty.
Recovering hardly what he lost before. --Dryden.
2. Unwillingly; grudgingly.
The House of Peers gave so hardly thei? consent.
--Milton.
3. Scarcely; barely; not guite; not wholly.
Hardly shall you one so bad, but he desires the
credit of being thought good. --South.
4. Severely; harshly; roughly.
He has in many things been hardly used. --Swift.
5. Confidently; hardily. [Obs.] --Holland.
6. Certainly; surely; indeed. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
hardly
adv 1: by a small margin; "they could barely hear the speaker"; "we
hardly knew them"; "just missed being hit"; "had
scarcely rung the bell when the door flew open";
"would have scarce arrived before she would have found
some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats [syn: {barely}, {just},
{scarcely}, {scarce}]
2: almost not; "he hardly ever goes fishing"; "he was hardly
more than sixteen years old"; "they scarcely ever used the
emergency generator" [syn: {scarcely}]
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