the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
ad. In a near relation in place, time, degree, etc.; within a little; almost.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Nearly; within a little; almost.
Word Usage
"Suppose a Man born blind, and now adult, and taught by his touch to distinguish between a Cube, and a Sphere of the same metal, and nighly of the same bigness, so as to tell, when he felt one and t'other; which is the Cube, which the Sphere."