"Gradely, decently, orderly. Sax. _grad_, _grade,_ ordo. Rather, Mr.
Turner says, from Sax. _gradlie_ upright; _gradely_ in Lanc., he
observes, is an adjective simplifying everything respectable. The
Lancashire people say, our _canny_ is nothing to it."

The word itself is very familiar to me, as I have often received a scolding
for some boyish, and therefore not very wise or orderly prank, in these
terns:--"One would think you were not altogether gradely," or, as it was
sometimes varied into, "You would make one believe you were not _right in
your head;_" meaning, "One would think you had not common sense."

H. EASTWOOD.

Ecclesfield.

_Gradely._--This word is not only used in Yorkshire, but also very much in
Lancashire, and the rest of the north of England. I have always understood
it to mean "good," "jolly," "out and out." Its primary meaning is "orderly,
decently." (See Richardson's _Dictionary_.) The French have _grade_; It.
and Sp., _grado_; Lat. _gradus_.

AREDJID KOOEZ.

_Gradely._--This word, in use in Lancashire and Yorkshire, means
_grey-headedly_, and denotes such wisdom as should belong to old age. A
child is admonished to do a thing _gradely_, _i.e._ with the care and
caution of a person of experience.

E.H.