pitifullyadv.

a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 1495 (MED) Þat man þat demeþ alle to þe ryȝt, Of mercy get he no plyȝt..ȝyf he demeþ pytyffully [v.rr. pytysfully; pytously], At hys demyng getyþ he mercy.

?a1425 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 64 (MED) His precyouse blode full gret plente, Full petefully for me was sched.

1544 Letanie in Exhort. vnto Prayer sig. C.ii^v Pitifully beholde the dolour of our harte.

1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus i. 6 He shall more patiently and pitifully deale against it.

1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iii. 134 The Wife and Mother, pitifully fixing Tender reproaches, insupportable! View more context for this quotation

1885 H. V. Barnett in Mag. of Art Sept. 454/2 He..thought pitifully of her in her affliction.

1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers xi. 287 Very sad, and very tender, his fingers wandered over her face pitifully.

c1450 Alphabet of Tales (1905) II. 286 (MED) He hard a voyce cry petifullie..‘Iulian, com & feche me owr, I pray the!’

c1475 (c1420) J. Page Siege of Rouen (Egerton) (1876) 3 (MED) Gonnys they schott with grete envye, And many were smytte pyttyfully.

?1553 tr. Pope Pius II Hist. Ladye Lucres & Eurialus sig. H.iii Yet he neuer enioied after, but in conclusion pitifulli wasted his painful life.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 754 He was with mischarging of a speare,..pittifully slayne and brought to death.

1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis ii. x. 93 Pittifully requesting the succour of the passers by.

1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 127 They beat them pitifully . View more context for this quotation

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 103 She cry'd and look'd pitifully.

1777 G. Forster Voy. round World II. 238 They groaned most pitifully, had violent reachings.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xxix. 295 Miss Tox sobbed pitifully.

1884 Manch. Examiner 29 Mar. 4/8 The widow, whose career of wedded happiness has been so pitifully cut short.

1918 in K. F. Cowing & C. R. Cooper Dear Folks at Home (1919) x. 87 He was crying pitifully, and we gave him cigarettes and some of our monkey meat and hardtack.

1996 Observer (Nexis) 20 Oct. 25 He is pitifully alone. He is an only child, and his wife flounced out.

1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love ii. iv. sig. E2^v They doo most pitifully Imitate. View more context for this quotation

1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 28 To prove..how pitifully poore and ridiculous the first workes of Art have been.

1688 Earl of Clarendon Diary 7 Dec. in State Lett. (1763) II. 107 They were very shabby fellows, pitifully mounted, and worse armed.

1719 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 7) 243 Strawberry Plants..in the second Year they bear wonderfully; but that being past, they produce very pitifully.

1784 J. Byng Diary 19 July in Torrington Diaries (1934) I. 179 All the approaching ground is pitifully dotted with mean plantations of fir and larch.

1851 N. Hawthorne House of Seven Gables i. 34 There was something pitifully small in this old Pyncheon's mode of setting about his commercial operations.

1896 C. G. D. Roberts Forge in Forest xix. 243 We had become involved in swamps, and made a very pitifully small advance.

1929 Travel Jan. 11 (caption) This delicate voluptuary reared in the European royalist tradition was pitifully incompetent to rule a turbulent, semi-civilized country.

2003 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 26 Jan. 14 There are pitifully few women in the boardroom and children are still, in most cases, the death of a woman's career.