needly

Meanings

Adverb

• Zealously; carefully; earnestly.
• Necessarily; of necessity.
• Urgently.

Adjective

• Like a needle or needles.

Related

Similar words

• acicular

Origin

• From Middle English needely, neodliche, from Old English nēodlīċe ("eagerly, earnestly, carefully, zealously, diligently, sedulously; greatly"); equivalent to need + -ly. Cognate with Old Saxon niudlīko ("zealously, carefully"), German niedlich ("desirable, appealing, lovely, cute").
• From Middle English needely, nedelich, from Old English *nīedlīċe ("necessarily"), from nīedlīc; equivalent to need + -ly. Merged with Etymology 1 above. Cognate with Middle Dutch nodelike, Middle Low German nōtliken, Middle High German nōtliche.
• From needle + -y.