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In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty. Recovering hardly what he lost before. Dryden.

Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, "Two men could hardly walk abreast." Macaulay.

thy of being admitted; that may be allowed or conceded; allowable; as, the supposition is hardly admissible. -- Ad*mis"si*ble*ness, n. -- Ad*mis"si*bly, adv.

evolution that happened in this article of good breeding. Addison. This last article will hardly be believed. De Foe.

idle. Johnson. Enough to make us ashamed of our species. Macaulay. An ashamed person can hardly endure to meet the gaze of those present. Darwin.

t; without any excess; with nothing to spare ( of quantity, time, etc.); hence, scarcely; hardly; as, there was barely enough for all; he barely escaped.

tion or condition; to circumstance; to place. [Only in p. p.] They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: . . . and curse their king and their God. Is. viii. 21. Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow.

perior, as in merit, social standing, etc.; -- usually in the plural. Their betters would hardly be found. Hooker. For the better, in the way of improvement; so as to produce improvement. "If I have altered him anywhere for the better." Dryden.

world. Southey. Grand or Great climacteric, the sixty-third year of human life. I should hardly yield my rigid fibers to be regenerated by them; nor begin, in my grand climacteric, to squall in their new accents, or to stammer, in my second cradle, the elemental sounds of their barbarous metaphysics. Burke.…

O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart Cannot conceive nor name thee! Shak. You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the same climate. Swift.

d his disciples, which forms the basis of the Chinese jurisprudence and education. It can hardly be called a religion, as it does not inculcate the worship of any god. S. W. Williams.

or; to counterbalance; to compensate. Upon balancing the account, the profit at last will hardly countervail the inconveniences that go allong with it. L'Estrange.

Hence, to move or advance in a feeble, slow, or timorous manner. He was hardly able to crawl about the room. Arbuthnot. The meanest thing that crawl'd beneath my eyes. Byron.

ver she beginneth to digress in latitude. Holland. In the pursuit of an argument there is hardly room to digress into a particular definition as often as a man varies the signification of any term. Locke.

one's self; to disavow or deny, as connected with one's self personally; as, a parent can hardly disown his child; an author will sometimes disown his writings.

e hardest and most imperative duty. Hallam. Duty is a graver term than obligation. A duty hardly exists to do trivial things; but there may be an obligation to do them. C. J. Smith.

State of being contained; inclosure. [Obs.] In the embracement of the parts hardly reparable, as bones. Bacon.

weighty credence. Bp. Gardiner. Famous men, -- whose scientific attainments were esteemed hardly less than supernatural. Hawthorne.

Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.

To fix one's self; to take firm hold; to clinch; to cling. A horse leech will hardly fasten on a fish. Sir T. Browne.