Like; characteristic of; pertaining to: manly, godly. Compare -LIKE. [OE -lic]

1. In a (specified) manner: used to form adverbs from adjectives, or (rarely) from nouns: brightly, busily.
2. Occurring every (specified interval): hourly, yearly. [OE -lice <-lic -LY¹]♦ In cases where an adjective already ends in –ly, the forms of the adjective and adverb are often identical: He spoke kindly. Occasionally, –ly is added to –ly (which is then changed to –li), as in surlily, but this is generally avoided as awkward. In the case of words derived from French adjectives in –le, the ending is dropped before adding –ly, as in nobly, possibly.