Wiktionary

sickly

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English seekly, sekely, siklich, sekeliche, equivalent to sick +‎ -ly. Possibly a modification of Old English sīcle (“sickly”) and/or derived from Old Norse sjúkligr (“sickly”). Cognate with Dutch ziekelijk, Middle High German siechlich, Danish sygelig, Swedish sjuklig, Icelandic sjúklegur. The verb is from the adjective.[1]

Adjective

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sickly (comparative sicklier, superlative sickliest)

  1. Frequently ill or in poor health; weakly.
    a sickly child
    • 1759, Tobias Smollett, letter dated 16 March, 1759, in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 1, p. 190,[1]
      [...] the boy is a sickly lad, of a delicate frame, and particularly subject to a malady in his throat, which renders him very unfit for his Majesty’s service.
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 14, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 151:
      She is unfortunately of a sickly constitution, which has prevented her making that progress in many accomplishments which she could not otherwise have failed of;
    • 1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 1, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant‎[2], New York: Ballantine, published 2008, page 4:
      [...] the sharp-scented bottle of crystals that sickly Cousin Bertha had carried to ward off fainting spells.
  2. Not in good health; (somewhat) sick.
  3. Characterized by poor or unhealthy growth. (of a plant)
    • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, chapter 27, in The Good Earth‎[6], New York: Modern Library, published 1944, page 236:
      [...] the good wheat on this land had turned sickly and yellow.
    • 1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 6, in Silent Spring‎[7], Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 79:
      With the aid of the marigolds the roses flourished; in the control beds they were sickly and drooping.
  4. Appearing ill, infirm or unhealthy; giving the appearance of illness.
    a sickly pallor
    • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne and Son, and T. Cadell, Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 9, p. 121,[8]
      [...] she exhibited a countenance so wretched, and a complection so sickly, that Cecilia was impressed with horror at the sight.
    • 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, chapter 12, in A Simple Story‎[9], volume 3, London: G.G.J. and J. Robinson, pages 161–162:
      [...] he saw him arrive with his usual florid appearance: had he come pale and sickly, Sandford had been kind to him; but in apparent good health and spirits, he could not form his mouth to tell him he was “glad to see him.”
    • 1961, Joseph Heller, chapter 39, in Catch-22‎[10], New York: Dell:
      Yossarian [...] could not wipe from his mind the excruciating image of the barefoot boy with sickly cheeks [...]
  5. Shedding a relatively small amount of light; (of light) not very bright.
    Synonyms: faint, pale, wan
    • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour‎[11], London: H. Herringman, published 1667, act II, page 17:
      The Moon grows sickly at the sight of day.
    • 1757, Thomas Gray, Odes‎[12], Dublin: G. Faulkner and J. Rudd, page 5:
      Night, and all her sickly dews,
      Her Spectres wan, and Birds of boding cry,
    • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 5, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:
      Mr. Moore haunted his mill, his mill-yard, his dye-house, and his warehouse till the sickly dawn strengthened into day.
    • 1870–1871 (date written), Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXII, in Roughing It, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company [et al.], published 1872, →OCLC, page 235:
      It [the match] lit, burned blue and sickly, and then budded into a robust flame.
    • 2006, Sarah Waters, The Night Watch‎[13], London: Virago, 1944, section 2, p. 226:
      Duncan saw the men through a haze of wire and cigarette smoke and sickly, artificial light;
  6. Lacking intensity or vigour.
    Synonyms: faint, feeble, insipid, weak
    a sickly smile
    • 1730, James Thomson, The Tragedy of Sophonisba‎[14], London: A. Millar, act II, scene 1, page 19:
      What man of soul would [...] run,
      Day after day, the still-returning round
      Of life’s mean offices, and sickly joys;
      But in compassion to mankind?
    • 1779, Hannah More, The Fatal Falsehood‎[15], London: T. Cadell, act II, page 27:
      [...] my credulous heart
      [...] fondly loves to cherish
      The feeble glimmering of a sickly hope.
    • 1961, Robert A. Heinlein, chapter 19, in Stranger in a Strange Land, New York: Avon, →OCLC:
      He held a vast but carefully concealed distaste for all things American […] their manners, their bastard architecture and sickly arts … and their blind, pathetic, arrogant belief in their superiority long after their sun had set.
  7. Associated with poor moral or mental well-being.
    Synonym: unhealthy
  8. Tending to produce nausea.
    Synonyms: nauseating, sickening
    a sickly smell; sickly sentimentality
  9. Overly sweet.
    Synonyms: cloying, saccharine
  10. (obsolete) Marked by the occurrence of illness or disease (of a period of time).
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:
      This physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
    • a. 1768, Laurence Sterne, undated letter in Original Letters, London: Logographic Press, 1788, pp. 110-111,[21]
      [...] if I thought the sentiments of your last letter were not the sentiments of a sickly moment—if I could be made to believe, for an instant, that they proceeded from you, in a sober, reflecting condition of your mind—I should give you over as incurable,
    • 1798, Thomas Malthus, chapter 7, in An Essay on the Principle of Population‎[22], London: J. Johnson, page 115:
      [...] the three years immediately following the last period [...] were years so sickly that the births were sunk to 10, 229, and the burials raised to 15, 068.
  11. (obsolete) Tending to produce disease or poor health.
    Synonyms: insalubrious, unhealthy, unwholesome
    a sickly autumn; a sickly climate
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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sickly (third-person singular simple present sicklies, present participle sicklying, simple past and past participle sicklied)

  1. (transitive, archaic, literary) To make (something) sickly.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
      Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
      And thus the native hue of resolution
      Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
    • 1763, Charles Churchill, An Epistle to William Hogarth‎[24], London: for the author, page 12:
      Thy Drudge contrives, and in our full career
      Sicklies our hopes with the pale hue of Fear;
    • 1840, S. M. Heaton, edited by George Heaton, Thoughts on the Litany, by a naval officer’s orphan daughter‎[25], London: William Edward Painter, Section 4, p. 58:
      […] a cancer gnawing at the root of happiness, defeating every aim at permanent good in this world, and sicklying all sublunary joys […]
    • 1862, Gail Hamilton, “Men and Women”, in Country Living and Country Thinking‎[26], Boston: Ticknor and Fields, page 109:
      He evidently thinks the sweet little innocents never heard or thought of such a thing before, and would go on burying their curly heads in books, and sicklying their rosy faces with “the pale cast of thought” till the end of time […]
    • 2000, Ninian Smart, chapter 9, in World Philosophies‎[27], New York: Routledge, page 207:
      Ockham was critical of so many of his fellows for sicklying over theology with the obscurities of philosophy.
  2. (intransitive, rare) To become sickly.
    • 1889, Samuel Cox, An Expositor’s Notebook, London: Richard D. Dickinson, 7th edition, Chapter 26, p. 364,[28]
      But the seven most prominent Apostles […] still hang together, their hearts tormented with eager yet sad questionings, their hopes fast sicklying over with the pale hues of doubt.

Etymology 2

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From sick +‎ -ly.[2]

Adverb

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sickly (comparative more sickly, superlative most sickly)

  1. In a sick manner; in a way that reflects or causes sickness.
    sickly pale; to cough sickly
    • 1818, John Keats, Endymion‎[29], London: Taylor and Hessey, Book 2, lines 859-861, p. 93:
      […] he sickly guess’d
      How lone he was once more, and sadly press’d
      His empty arms together […]
    • 1939, John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath‎[30], New York: Viking, published 1962, Chapter , p. 364:
      The dazed man stared sickly at Casy.
    • 1961, Bernard Malamud, A New Life‎[31], Penguin, published 1968, Chapter , p. 185:
      For ten brutal minutes he was in torment, then the pain gradually eased. He felt sickly limp but relieved, thankful for his good health.
    • 2010, Rowan Somerville, chapter 9, in The End of Sleep‎[32], New York: Norton, page 66:
      The creaseless horizontal face of the giant smiled sickly, leering.
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ “sickly, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “sickly, adv.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
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