The Twelve Essays of Christmas: Alaying

Nouns come in two flavours - singlular and plural. As I've said, verbs come in several too - 2, 3, 4 or 5 depending on how you divide things up. I prefer to think of adjectives as having two types - the type that describes nouns, and the type that's usually the same but with '-ly' on the end, that describes verbs.

In traditional grammar, we call this second kind of adjective an 'adverb'. But we also use the word 'adverb' to refer to words which don't have multiple forms, and which aren't noun-describing adjectives with '-ly' stuck on the end, but which do describe verbs. Or sometimes whole sentences. Except when they don't.

Words like 'Yesterday', 'Today' and 'Tomorrow', but also 'Westward', 'goddam', 'hereby', 'nowadays' and 'pell-mell'.

The category of 'secondary adverb' - the first sense that I gave - is fairly robust. There's even a few irregular secondary adverbs - we have "The car drives fast" instead of "The car drives fastly", and "The student did well" instead of "The student did goodly". Some secondary adverbs have meanings that have shifted away from their adjective roots - 'hopefully' doesn't mean 'full of hope', 'sorely' is always emotional soreness, and 'positively' only reflects some senses of 'positive'.

'Leisurely' looks like an adverb from an adjective, but it's actually an adjective from a noun. The same for 'westerly'. And what's the form of an adverb from an adjective that looks like an adverb already? The same one. Obviously, duh.

But primary adverbs - ones that usually-but-not-always don't come from adjectives and usually-but-not-always have only one form...that's a ragbag category. I think it's more a place to put anything that won't go anywhere else. It should be marked 'Misc' or 'Other'. Or 'Don't Know'.

Though I should stress that half of them are also listed as adjective. Or conjunctions, exclamations etc. The COED lists 913 of these words - not including the 'relative' and 'interrogative' adverbs, of which more later.

2-24-7A-OK
abeamabedaboard
aborningaboutabove
abreastabroadabsolutely
accelerandoaccordingaccordingly
acrossactuallyad-lib
adriftafarafield
afireaflameafloat
afootafoulafresh
aftafterafternoon
afterwardsagainagitato
agleyagoaground
aheadajarakimbo
aleealfrescoalias
alightalikeall
allargandoallegrettoalmost
aloftalonealong
alongshorealoudalow
alreadyalrightalso
altogetheralwayalways
amidshipsamissamok
amorosoamuckandantino
anewangliceanimato
anonante-mortemanticlockwise
anyanyhowanymore
anyplaceanytimeanyway
anywaysanywhereanywheres
anywiseapaceapart
apiecearcoaright
aroundarsy-versyas
ashoreasideaskance
askewaslantasleep
aslopeasprawlasquint
ass-backwardsassaiastern
astrayastrideasunder
aswirlathwartatilt
atopawayawfully
awhileawryaye
backback-to-backbackstage
backwardbackwardsbadly
ballybangbareback
barefootbarehandedbareheaded
barelybasicallybefore
beforehandbehindbelow
beneathbesidesbest
betimesbetterbetween
betwixtbeyondbimonthly
bisbitchingbiweekly
biyearlyblindblindfold
blooeybodilyboth
boustrophedonbroadcastbroadside
butbycalando
cantabilecapricciosocater-cornered
certainlycheapcheerly
chieflycitywideclean
cleanlyclearclearly
clockwisecloseclose-hauled
collectcommonlycomparatively
completelyconfessedlyconsequently
consideringcontrariwisecornerwise
countercounterclockwisecountrywide
crabwisecrescendocross-legged
crosswisecurrentlycy-pres
dailydeaddeadly
deadpandeardearly
deceptivelydecrescendodeep
definitelydesignedlydevilish
ding-dongdinkumdirect
directlydirtydoggo
dolcedoubledoubtless
downdownfielddownhill
downmarketdownmostdownright
downriverdownslopedownstage
downstairsdownstatedownstream
downtowndownwarddownwind
drilydry-shoddryly
duedulyduty-free
e'ene'ereach
each-wayearlyeasily
easteasterlyeastward
economicallyedgewayseither
ekeelseelsewhere
endwaysenoughentirely
equallyerewhileergo
ersterstwhileespecially
espressivoeveneven-steven
eveningeverevermore
everyplaceeverywhereex-works
exactlyexceedinglyexpress
extemporeextrafair
fairlyfaithfullyfar
fartherfarthestfast
fifty-fiftyfilthyfine
firmfirst-handfirstly
flatforbyeforehanded
foremostforeverformerly
forsoothforteforth
forthwithfortissimofortunately
forwardfour-squarefrankly
freefreehandfreelance
freelyfreshFriday
frofugatofull
full-timefullyfurioso
furthermorefurthestgaily
generallygeygingerly
goddamgrantedgratis
greatgreatlygross
halfhalf-and-halfhalf-price
half-yearlyhalfwayhappen
hardhardlyhead-on
head-to-headheadlongheap
heartilyhellishhelter-skelter
hencehenceforthhere
hereaboutshereafterhereat
herebyhereinhereinafter
hereinbeforehereofhereto
heretoforehereunderhereunto
hereuponherewithhiggledy-piggledy
highhighlyhipshot
hitherhitherwardholus-bolus
homehomewardhonest
honestlyhopefullyhorseback
hotfoothourlyhouse-to-house
howhowbeithowever
hugelyhumanlyibid.
idemillimmediately
immenselyimpromptuin
in-housein-storeinasmuch
inboardinboundinchmeal
incidentallyincognitoincommunicado
indeedindoorsinfield
inlandinlyinshore
insideinsofarinsomuch
instanterinsteadinterest-free
interiminterstateinward
inwardsirregardlessitem
jollyjustkindly
kitty-cornerknee-highlandward
largelylarghettolargo
lastlastlylate
latelylatishlatterly
leastleastwaysleeward
leftlegatoleisurely
lengthwayslengthwiselento
lesslickety-splitlief
likelikelylikewise
literallyliteratimlittle
livelonglongways
lotloudlow
lowerlowlyluckily
mañanamaestosomainly
majorlymarcatomarginally
materiallymaybemayhap
meantimemeanwhilemeno
mercifullymerelymiddling
midmostmidshipsmidway
midweekmightymile
mitemob-handedmoderato
moltomomentarilymomently
Mondaymondomonthly
moremoreovermorning
mossomostmostly
muchmuchomultiply
namelynatchnatheless
naturallynaynear
nearbynearlynecessarily
needneithernever
nevermoreneverthelessnew
newlynextniggardly
nighnightnightly
nonohownon-stop
nonenonethelessnor
normallynorthnorth-east
north-easterlynorth-eastwardnorth-west
north-westerlynorth-westwardnortherly
northwardnotnotably
nothingnotwithstandingnow
nowadaysnowaynowhere
nowisenuffo'clock
o'erobiteroff
off-keyoff-peakoff-piste
off-planoff-priceoff-road
offhandofflineoffshore
offsideoffstageoft
oft-timesoftenoftentimes
oh-soOKon
onceone-to-oneonline
onlyonshoreonside
onstageonwardopenly
oppositeotherwhereotherwise
outoutboardoutbound
outdoorsoutrightoutside
outwardoutwardsover
overalloverarmoverboard
overgroundoverhandoverhead
overlandoverleafoverlong
overlyovermuchovernight
overseasoversideovertime
overtopparlandoparrot-fashion
partpart-timepart-way
particularlypartlypassim
pastpatpatently
pell-mellperchanceperforce
perhapspianissimopiano
piecemealpiggybackpit-a-pat
pitter-patterplainplease
plentyplumbplump
pocopoint-blankpoorly
positivelypossiblypost-haste
powerfulpracticallypredominately
presentlyprestissimopresto
presumablypretermpretty
primarilyprincipallypro
probablyprofessedlyprompt
prontoproperproperly
purposelypursuantquarterly
quiterallentandorarely
ratherravingreadily
readyrealreally
rearwardregardlessregretfully
respectivelyrichlyright
rightlyritardandoritenuto
rottenroughlyround
roundlysadlysame
Saturdayscarcescherzando
scilicetscot-freescreamingly
second-handseldomsemplice
sempreseq.seriatim
seriouslysforzandosharp
sheershortshortly
sicsidearmsidelong
sidewayssidewisesimpliciter
simplysincesingle-handed
skew-whiffsky-highslap
slapdashslightlyslily
smacksmallsmartish
smashsmoothsmorzando
sosockingsoever
softsolelysolo
somesomehowsomeplace
somethingsometimesometimes
somewaysomewhatsomewhen
somewheresommersoon
soresorelysound
southsouth-eastsouth-easterly
south-eastwardsouth-westsouth-westerly
south-westwardsoutherlysouthward
spangspeciallysquare
squarelystaccatostag
statstatesidestatewide
stillstinkingstock-still
stonestraightstraightaway
straightwaystrettostrictly
stringendosubjectsubstantially
Sundaysupersupply
supposedlysuprasure
surelyswellswift
swimminglysynetête-à-tête
tandemtantotenuto
terriblythankfullythat
thatawaythenthence
thenceforththenceforwardthere
thereaboutsthereafterthereat
therebytherefortherefore
therefromthereinthereinafter
thereinbeforethereintothereof
thereonthereoutthereto
theretoforethereunderthereunto
thereupontherewiththerewithal
thickthinthis
thithertho'thoroughly
thoughthricethrough
throughoutThursdaythus
thuslythwarttight
totodaytogether
tomorrowtontongue-in-cheek
tonighttootoo-too
toptopsidetopsy-turvy
treblytroppotruly
Tuesdaytuttitwice
unadvisedlyunawareunawares
uncommonunderunderarm
undercoverunderfootunderground
underneathunderwateruntimely
upupcountryupfield
uphillupmarketuppermost
uprightupriverupscale
upsidesupslopeupstage
upstairsupstreamuptempo
uptownupwardupwind
usuallyverbatimverily
veryvidelicetvirtually
vis-à-visvivaceviz.
wayweaklyWednesday
weeklywellwell-nigh
westwesterlywestward
whateverwhatsoeverwhensoever
whereinwheresoeverwhole
wholesalewhollywiddershins
widewidthwayswilly-nilly
windwardwithershinswithin
withoutwondrouswoomph
worldwideworseworst
wrongyayyearly
yesterdayyetzigzag

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