lithe

v. t. & i. [ Icel hl&ymacr_;ða. See Listen. ] To listen or listen to; to hearken to. [ Obs. ] P. Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. līðe, for linðe tender, mild, gentle; akin to G. lind, gelind, OHG. lindi, Icel. linr, L. lenis soft, mild, lentus flexible, and AS. linnan to yield. Cf. Lenient. ] 1. Mild; calm; as, lithe weather. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber; as, the elephant's lithe proboscis. Milton.
Syn. -- lithesome. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a lithe, pliant, or flexible manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being lithe; flexibility; limberness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. l&ymacr_;ðer bad, wicked. ] Bad; wicked; false; worthless; slothful. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not lither in business, fervent in spirit. Bp. Woolton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Professor Skeat thinks “ the lither sky” as found in Shakespeare's Henry VI. ((Part I. IV. VII., 21) means the stagnant or pestilential sky.

-- Li"ther*ly, adv. [Obs.]. -- Li"ther*ness, n. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Crafty; cunning; mischievous; wicked; treacherous; lazy. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ the dwarf ] was waspish, arch, and litherly. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]