From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
barely
adv 1: only a very short time before; "they could barely hear
the speaker"; "we hardly knew them"; "just missed being
hit"; "had scarcely rung the bell when the door flew
open"; "would have scarce arrived before she would have
found some excuse to leave"- W.B.Yeats [syn: barely,
hardly, just, scarcely, scarce]
2: in a sparse or scanty way; "a barely furnished room" [syn:
scantily, barely]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Barely \Bare"ly\, adv.
1. Without covering; nakedly.
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2. Without concealment or disguise.
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3. Merely; only.
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R. For now his son is duke.
W. Barely in title, not in revenue. --Shak.
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4. But just; without any excess; with nothing to spare (of
quantity, time, etc.); hence, scarcely; hardly; as, there
was barely enough for all; he barely escaped.
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