morallyadv.

c1390 W. Hilton Expos. Qui habitat & Bonum Est (1954) 28 (MED) Þe wordes of holi writ..are opened to his siȝt boþe morali & mistili.

c1440 S. Scrope tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (St. John's Cambr.) (1970) 7 Be-cause that alle the worldli graces that a good man ought for to haue were in Hector, moralli we may seye that he took them be the councell of Othea, the which sent hym this pistell.

?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) ii. xliii. f. 133^v Whan ihesu is maister it is expouned & letterly, morally, mistily, & heuenly.

?a1500 tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (Harl.) (1942) 12 (MED) Whe mey sey morally þat he toke them by þe warnyng of othea.

1509 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1845) xiii. 51 They take no hede nothyng they wryte, Whyche morally dyd so nobly endyte, Reprovyng vyce.

c1443 R. Pecock Reule of Crysten Religioun (1927) 231 (MED) A deed may not be sufficientli good morali but if he haue his moral goodnes.

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 106 (MED) Thilk gouernaunce ouȝte of hem be iugid morali good or bad.

?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) i. lxviii. f. 46 (MED) For if a man hadde moralli alle þe vertues of all philosophres, he koude nouȝt don þis.

1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 153 What so euer vertue enclyneth or moueth man or woman morally to moo thynges than one perteyneth to the actyue lyfe.

1623 W. Sclater Quæstion of Tythes 225 Tithes..caeremoniously, not morally, payable.

1634 W. Prynne Let. in S. Gardiner Documents Proc. against W. Prynne (1877) 40 They are all able umpyres of all vices and vertues, of thinges that are morally good or evill.

1694 R. South 12 Serm. II. 436 For generally speaking; to take away the Life of a Man, is neither Morally Good, nor Morally Evil.

1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 28 The house of lords..is not morally competent to dissolve the house of commons. View more context for this quotation

1841–8 F. Myers Catholic Thoughts II. iii. §9. 33 The testimony of the best men morally as to the immediate origin of their thoughts and feelings may conceivably not be trustworthy.

1859 C. Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 124 A government is morally bound to keep itself in existence.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 499 Morally speaking, the African is far from being the brutal fiend he is often painted.

1914 M. Sinclair Three Sisters xlv. 248 More than ever subject to infatuation, more than ever morally inert.

1986 M. Egremont Dear Shadows iv. 39 My father would have regarded it as morally wrong to make too much out of his inheritance, to trade in too advantageously.

a1540 R. Barnes Lawfull for Priestes to marry Wiues in W. Tyndale et al. Wks. (1573) ii. 312/2 Those poore men that marry, be cause they would not all onely lyue vertuously beefore God, but also morally before the world.

1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 215 (MED) He taxed not his commons..But lyued on his owne..Vpon his rentes and landes morallye.

1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. a2 To take away rewards and punishments, is only a pleasing prospect to a Man, who resolves before hand not to live morally.

1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. iv. 70 ‘I don't complain near as much as the others do..,’ said Amy, morally.

1993 B. Watson Effective Teaching Relig. Educ. 111 Failure to live morally betrays and invalidates religious devotion unless there is genuine penitence.

1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. ii. 73 Not so certain, I grant, as of that which wee can demonstrate: But certain enough, morally certain.

1660 Bp. J. Taylor Ductor Dubitantium I. i. v. 175 But there is a Negative doubt which is called Morally negative; that is, when there is no way of being readily and clearly determined, but yet the doubt is founded upon some slight conjecture, and no more.

1692 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 462 He was morally assured of success.

1703 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion II. vi. 32 It being morally sure, that the Earl of Essex would put himself in their way.

1782 F. Burney Cecilia II. iii. iv. 50 It's quite morally impossible I should raise such a sum.

1808 Lieut. Col. Symes in J. Moore Narr. Campaign Spain (1809) 131 It is morally impossible that they can stand before a line of French infantry.

1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 174 It is morally certain that there will be enough net income at the end of next half-year to pay the full year's interest.

1966 ‘R. Standish’ Widow Hack ix. 97 Morally certain that I had not been seen, I returned to my car.

1980 K. Lindsay Brit. Intell. Services in Action 173 It is morally certain that a number of persons signed confessions to crimes of which they were innocent.

1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago 25 So well-conducted, morally-given and respectable a gathering.