• (RP, GA) IPA: /ˈɡɹɪzli/

grisly (comparative grislier, superlative grisliest)

1. Horrifyingly repellent#Adjective|repellent; gruesome, terrifying.

   Synonyms: grisy, gristly, grizzly, Thesaurus:frightening

   The photographs of the killings depict a grisly scene.

   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125 ↗; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868 ↗, “folio III, verso” ↗:

     Whan that Arcite to Thebes comen was / Full ofte a day he swelt#Middle English|ſwelte and ſaid alas / For see#Middle English|ſene his lady ſhall be neuer more#Middle English|mo / And ſhortely to conclude, all his woe#Middle English|wo / So mikell sorrow#Middle English|ſoro we made neuer creature / That is or ſhalbe, while the world may dure / His sleep#Middle English|ſlepe, his meate, his drinke is him bereft#Middle English|byraft / That leane he waxeth, and drye as a ſhaft / His eyen#Middle English|eyen holow, and griſly to beholde / His hue#Middle English|hewe pale, and sallow#Middle English|ſalowe as ashes#Middle English|aſhen colde / And ſolitary he was, and euer alone / And wailing all the night, making moan#Middle English|mone

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1588, G[abriel] H[arvey], “[Greenes Memoriall; Or Certaine Funerall Sonnets.] Sonnet XVII. His Exhortation to Atonement and Love.”, in Fovre Letters, and Certaine Sonnets, especially Touching Robert Greene, and Other Parties by Him Abused: […], London: Imprinted by Iohn Wolfe, for Edward White, OCLC 84013514 ↗; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Fovre Letters, and Certaine Sonnets (Miscellaneous Tracts Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], OCLC 907145924 ↗, page 77 ↗:

     magnes#English|Magnes and many thinges attractive are, / But nothing ſo allective#English|allective under ſkyes, / As that ſame dainty amiable ſtarre, / That none but griſly mouth of hell defyes.

2. Misspelling of gristly
3. Misspelling of grizzly
   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries

     old squirrels that turn grisly

• grise

• French: épouvantable
• German: grässlich
• Portuguese: arrepiante, horrível
• Russian: отврати́тельный
• Spanish: macabro, horripilante, repugnante

grisly

1. (obsolete) In a horrible or terrible manner; in a terrifying way.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125 ↗; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868 ↗, “folio LXIII, verso” ↗, column 2:

     In Flanders whilom#Middle English|whilom there was a company / Of yonge folke, that hau[n]ted folly#Middle English|foly / As haſard, riot, ſtewes, and tauernes / Where as with harpes, lutes, and gitterns#Middle English|geternes / Thei dauncen and plaien at dice night & day / And eten alſo, ouer that her{{sic

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

• grimly
• horribly
• terribly