From the word’s history
From Middle English gentilly; gentle + -ly.
源自中古英文 gentilly，就是 gentle 加上 -ly。
You can picture a hand resting on something that might break: it still moves the thing, but with as little force as it can manage. That small amount of force is what gently describes — a touch, a voice, a push, or even a slope that goes down only a little at a time.
原始詞典資料5 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
gentlyadv/ˈd͡ʒɛntli/
- 1
In a manner characterized by gentleness
- First, marinate the tofu. In a bowl, whisk the kecap manis, chilli sauce, and sesame oil together. Cut the tofu into strips about 1cm thick, mix gently (so it doesn't break) with the marinade and leave in the fridge for half an hour.
- The plane is travelling impossibly slowly – 30km an hour – when it gently noses up and leaves the ground. With air beneath them, the rangy wings seem to gain strength; the fuselage that on the ground seemed flimsy becomes elegant, like a crane vaunting in flight. It seems not to fly, though, so much as float.
- 2
In a manner characterized by gentleness
- From Blackwater there is a more or less level run through gently rolling farmlands and downs to Merstone, with its island platform and passing loop.
- 3
In a manner characterized by gentleness
- I look at the world, and I notice it's turning / While my guitar gently weeps / With every mistake, we must surely be learning / Still my guitar gently weeps
- 4
historicalFrom a gentle or high-class family.
- gently born
- 5
obsoleteIn the manner of one of gentle birth; in a manner that reflects the traditional virtues of the gentry: courteously, nobly.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。