Adjective

(er)

Resembling an eel: long, thin and slippery

* {{quote-book, year=1850, author=George Manville Fenn, title=Menhardoc, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=The great ugly sharky fish was hooked forward by Josh and placed in a great basket, where it lay writhing its eely tail, and flapping its wing-like fins as the boat slowly progressed, and bait after bait was replaced, many being untouched, the thornback, skate, or ray being the only fish taken. }}

* {{quote-book, year=1904, author=George Manville Fenn, title=The Ocean Cat's Paw, chapter=, edition= citation

, passage=That was a great long eely thing; but Joe Cross here says this was more like a great turtle, with flippers and a long neck, and a head like a snake." }}

* {{quote-news, year=2004, date=August 13, author=Neil Tesser, title=Lou Donaldson Quartet with Dr. Lonnie Smith, work=Chicago Reader citation

, passage=Veteran alto saxist Lou Donaldson faces the audience with a raised eyebrow and a toothy grin, and his horn's high-pitched, eely timbre--which still has plenty of the grease that made him a soul-jazz hero in the 60s and 70s--complements his squeaky voice. }}

Adjective

(en adjective)

(obsolete) Lucky, fortunate.

(obsolete) Innocent; harmless.

(obsolete) Pitiable, deserving of sympathy; poor, miserable.

*, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.57:

*:Whereas the poore, the banished, and seely servants, live often as carelesly and as pleasantly as the other.

(obsolete) Trifling, insignificant.

(obsolete) Silly, foolish.