Wt/sco/agley

English

Etymology

Scots agley.

Pronunciation

• IPA⁽⁾: /əˈɡleɪ/, /əˈɡliː/

Adverb

agley (comparative mair Wt/sco/agley, superlative maist Wt/sco/agley)

1. Template:Wt/sco/chiefly Wrong in the sense of awry, askew, amiss, or distorted.
   • 1932, Rosewell Page, The Iliads of the South: an epic of the War Between the States, Garrett and Massie, p. 165:

     X tells of cavalry; of Sheridan, Hampton and Fitz Lee;

     Of Early’s Valley march, that Sheridan long held agley!

   • Template:Wt/sco/RQ:Wodehouse Offing
   • 2002, Diana Gabaldon, The Fiery Cross, p. 29:

     We meant to sail from Charleston, but things went agley there, and so we’re bound for Portsmouth now, as fast as we can make speed.

Usage notes

The word was popularised by Robert Burns in his 1785 Scots poems “To a Mouse”, in the much-quoted line “The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”. This line is often quoted, and the word agley is occasionally used in modern English, primarily in variants of this line, such as “our plans have gone agley” or “things went agley”.

Anagrams

• Gayle

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Scots

Etymology

.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈɡliː/, /əˈɡləi/

Adverb

agley (comparative mair agley, superlative maist agley)

1. asquint; astray, off the straight
   • 1785, Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”:

     The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley