homelyとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 中期英語 homly, hoomly, hamely (“domestic, familiar, plain, unattractive”), from 古期英語 *hāmlīċ (“of the home, domestic”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimalīk (“of or characteristic of home”), equivalent to home +‎ -ly. Cognate with Scots hamely (“familiar, personal, private”), West Frisian heimelik, Dutch heimelijk (“secret, secretive, clandestine”), German heimlich (“secret, secretive, clandestine, undercover”), Danish hemmelig (“secret”), Swedish hemlig (“secret, concealed, privy, covert”), Faroese heimligur (“homelike, homey”), Icelandic heimlegur (“homely; worldly”).

発音

• (英国発音) IPA: /ˈhəʊmli/
• (米国発音) enPR: hōmʹlē, IPA: /ˈhoʊmli/
• 韻: -əʊmli
• ハイフネーション: home‧ly

形容詞

homely (comparative homelier or more homely, superlative homeliest or most homely)

1. Characteristic of, belonging to, or befitting a home; domestic, cosy. [from early 14th c.]
   • 1946, George Orwell, Politics and the English Language:

     An interesting illustration of this is the way in which the English flower names which were in use till very recently are being ousted by Greek ones, snapdragon becoming antirrhinum, forget-me-not becoming myosotis, etc. It is hard to see any practical reason for this change of fashion: it is probably due to an instinctive turning-away from the more homely word and a vague feeling that the Greek word is scientific.

   • 1981 February 14, Collectively Written Feminist Stories, “Myma Greenfield”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 29, page 11:

     Other homely details in the stories — preparing a salad, diapering a baby

   • 2014 January 5, “Mowgli's Cub”, in The Jungle Book:

     Mowgli: "Oh, don't worry Chota, it may not be homely, but I can warm it up."

2. (Canada, US) Lacking in beauty or elegance, plain in appearance, physically unattractive.

   Antonym: comely

   • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:

     There is none so homely but loves a looking-glass.

   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 6:

     "I can't send a young, pretty girl, or for that matter even a homely one if you'd have her, on a job like this without telling her what to expect."

   • 1958, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 15, in Lolita:

     You see, she sees herself as a starlet; I see her as a sturdy, healthy but decidedly homely kid.

3. (UK dialectal) On intimate or friendly terms with (someone); familiar; at home (with a person); intimate.
   • 1563, John Foxe, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Chapter on William Thorpe:

     With all these men I was right homely, and communed with them long and oft.

4. (UK dialectal, of animals) Domestic; tame.
5. (UK dialectal) Personal; private.
6. (UK dialectal) Friendly; kind; gracious; cordial.
7. (India) Conservative and family-oriented.

   I am seeking a beautiful homely girl for marriage.

8. Simple; plain; familiar; unelaborate; unadorned. [from late 14th c.]

   a homely garment

   homely fare

   homely manners

   • 1731, Alexander Pope, Strephon and Chloe, Lines 211-212:

     Now Strephon daily entertains
     His Chloe in the homeliest strains.

   • 2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 167:

     There is no simple way to define precisely a complex arrangement of parts, however homely the object may appear to be.

派生語

形容詞

homely

1. alternative form of homly