grisly

Meanings

Adjective

• Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying.
• Misspelling of gristly
• Misspelling of grizzly

Adverb

• In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.

Related

Similar words

• grimly
• horribly
• terribly

Origin

• From Middle English grisely, grysly, grissliȝ, griselich, grislich, from Old English grisliċ ("grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid"), from grīsan (unattested but implied in āgrīsan) + -lic.
• The word may also be an aphetic form of Old English ongrislic, agrisenliċ, the past participle of agrīsan.
• Compare Danish grusom, Swedish gräslig, Middle Dutch grezelijc (modern Dutch griezelig), Middle High German grisenlich (modern German grässlich, grausen).
• From grisle + -ly; compare Middle Dutch griselike, Middle Low German grislike.