Adverb

(-)

(lb) To the greatest extent or degree; completely, entirely.

#With verbs, especially past participles.

#*, Book I:

#*:Thus when they had the witch disrobed quight , / And all her filthy feature open showne, / They let her goe at will, and wander wayes vnknowne.

#*2005 , Adrian Searle, The Guardian , 4 October:

#*:Nobuyoshi Araki has been called a monster, a pornographer and a genius - and the photographer quite agrees.

#With prepositional phrases and spatial adverbs.

#*1891 , (Thomas Nelson Page), On Newfound River :

#*:Margaret passed quite through the pines, and reached the opening beyond which was what was once the yard, but was now, except for a strip of flower-border and turf which showed care, simply a tangle of bushes and briars.

#*2010 , Joanna Briscoe, The Guardian , 30 October:

#*:Religion and parochial etiquette are probed to reveal unhealthy, and sometimes shockingly violent, internal desires quite at odds with the surface life of a town in which tolerance is preached.

#With predicative adjectives.

#*1914 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (The Son of Tarzan) :

#*:El Adrea was quite dead. No more will he slink silently upon his unsuspecting prey.

#*:

#*:In Lejeuneaceae vegetative branches normally originate from the basiscopic basal portion of a lateral segment half, as in the Radulaceae, and the associated leaves, therefore, are quite unmodified.

#With attributive adjectives, following an (especially indefinite) article; chiefly as expressing contrast, difference etc.

#*2003 , (Richard Dawkins), A Devil's Chaplain :

#*:When I warned him that his words might be offensive to identical twins, he said that identical twins were a quite different case.

#*2011 , Peter Preston, The Observer , 18 September:

#*:Create a new, quite separate, private company – say Murdoch Newspaper Holdings – and give it all, or most of, the papers that News Corp owns.

#Preceding nouns introduced by the indefinite article. Chiefly in negative constructions.

#*1791 , (James Boswell), (Life of Samuel Johnson) :

#*:I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as Churchill had attacked him violently.

#*1920 , (John Galsworthy), (In Chancery) :

#*:And with a prolonged sound, not quite' a sniff and not ' quite a snort, he trod on Euphemia's toe, and went out, leaving a sensation and a faint scent of barley?sugar behind him.

#With adverbs of manner.

#*2009 , John F. Schmutz, The Battle of the Crater: A complete history :

#*:However, the proceedings were quite carefully orchestrated to produce what seemed to be a predetermined outcome.

#*2011 , Bob Burgess, The Guardian , 18 October:

#*:Higher education institutions in the UK are, quite rightly, largely autonomous.

(lb) In a fully justified sense; truly, perfectly, actually.

#Coming before the indefinite article and an attributive adjective. (Now largely merged with moderative senses, below.)

#*1898 , (Charles Gavrice), Nell of Shorne Mills :

#*:"My little plot has been rather successful, after all, hasn't it?" "Quite a perfect success," said Drake.

#*2001 , Paul Brown, The Guardian , 7 February:

#*:While the government claims to lead the world with its plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the figures tell quite a different story.

#With plain adjectives, past participles, and adverbs.

#*

#*:“My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

#*2010 , Dave Hill, The Guardian , 5 November:

#*:London Underground is quite unique in how many front line staff it has, as anyone who has travelled on the Paris Metro or New York Subway will testify.

#Coming before the definite article and an attributive superlative.

#*1910 , ‘(Saki)’, "The Soul of Laploshka", Reginald in Russia :

#*:Laploshka was one of the meanest men I have ever met, and quite one of the most entertaining.

#*1923 , "The New Pictures", Time , 8 October:

#*:Scaramouche has already been greeted as the finest French Revolution yet brought to the screen-and even if you are a little weary of seeing a strongly American band of sans-culottes demolish a pasteboard Paris, you should not miss Scaramouche, for it is quite the best thing Rex Ingram has done since The Four Horsemen.

#Before a noun preceded by an indefinite article; now often with ironic implications that the noun in question is particularly noteworthy or remarkable.

#*1830 , Senate debate, 15 April:

#*:To debauch the Indians with rum and cheat them of their land was quite a Government affair, and not at all criminal; but to use rum to cheat them of their peltry, was an abomination in the sight of the law.

#*2011 , Gilbert Morris, The Crossing :

#*:“Looks like you and Clay had quite a party,” she said with a glimmer in her dark blue eyes.

#Before a noun preceded by the definite article.

#*1871 , (Anthony Trollope), (The Eustace Diamonds) :

#*:It is quite the proper thing for a lady to be on intimate, and even on affectionate, terms with her favourite clergyman, and Lizzie certainly had intercourse with no clergyman who was a greater favourite with her than Mr. Emilius.

#*2006 , Sherman Alexie, "When the story stolen is your own", Time , 6 February:

#*:His memoir features a child named Tommy Nothing Fancy who suffers from and dies of a seizure disorder. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?

#

To a moderate extent or degree; somewhat, rather.

Adverb

(lb) Accurately, competently, satisfactorily.

* {{quote-book, 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, chapter=The Tutor's Daughter, Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art, and Fashion, page= 266

, passage=In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well -remembered road.}}

*

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well . Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field.}}

(lb) Completely, fully.

*

Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

(lb) To a significant degree.

*

*

*

Very (as a general-purpose intensifier).

* 1999 , "Drummond Pearson", What Ash are doing right now...'' (on Internet newsgroup ''alt.music.ash )

That guy rocks! I think he's called Matthew Lillard or sommat but he is well cool in Scream.

* 2002 , "jibaili", FIFA 2003 How is it?'' (on Internet newsgroup ''microsoft.public.xbox )

Hey Dude / FIFA 2003 is well wicked, I've got FIFA 2002 on PS2, David Beckham on Xbox and Football Manager on Xbox too, out of all pf(SIC) them FIFA 2003 is easliy(SIC) the best.

* 2003 , Steve Eddy, Empower, Book 2

Hey, you should've seen it, it was well good.

In such manner as is desirable; so as one could wish; satisfactorily; favourably; advantageously.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

It boded well to you.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

Know / In measure what the mind may well contain.

* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

All the world speaks well of you.