prodigallyadv.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 841/1 Prodygally, prodiguement.

a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) xlv. f. 87^v Some prodigally spende and wast all their goodes.

1583 P. Stubbes Anat. Abuses (N.S.S.) i. 62 A greeuous offence to God, so prodigalie and licentiouslie to lauish foorth his treasure.

1603 Proclam. James I to represse Piracies 30 Sept. The goods, moneyes and merchandizes..have been scattered, sold and disposed of most lewdly and prodigally.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis vi, in tr. Virgil Wks. 379 The next in Place, and Punishment, are they Who prodigally throw their Souls away.

1773 Observ. State Poor 63 The terrors of unaided poverty would happily operate to the advantage of those, who..prodigally waste those earnings.

1787 Daily Universal Reg. 18 Apr. 2/3 The calculation of the misfortunes which have been caused to compose those sums, so lightly and prodigally dissipated, is a frightful one.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xix I think you alarm yourself needlessly about our kind friend, and sacrifice your own health too prodigally in her favour.

1909 J. London Piece of Steak in Sat. Even. Post 20 Nov. 8/3 Tom King, who for half an hour had conserved his strength, now expended it prodigally in the one great effort he knew he had in him.

1968 Punch 27 Nov. 751 We maintained armed forces to defend a non-existent Empire and spent uselessly and prodigally in a vain attempt to keep abreast of the titans in capacity to kill and overkill.

2001 Roanoke (Virginia) Times (Nexis) 31 Oct. a.12 Of the oil-importing industrialized nations of the West, none wastes fossil fuels more prodigally than the United States.

1590 R. Greene Mourning Garment 1 Fortune..prodigally had wrapt him in the vestment of her riches.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 795 The King will not suffer them to haue Oyle or Wine there growing, although the earth would prodigally repay them, that they may still haue neede of Spaine.

1664 J. Dryden Rival Ladies i. i. 5 Value this small service as you please, Which you reward too Prodigally.

1754 G. Jeffreys tr. J. Vanière Country Farm i, in G. Jeffreys Misc. in Verse & Prose 167 Provence prodigally grants her treasures, sacred to the public wants.

1821 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto V lxv. 167 The moveables were prodigally rich.

a1853 F. W. Robertson Lect. (1858) 285 We know how prodigally the tongue vows.

1876 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. (rev. ed.) II. xxiv. 118 Benevolence gushed prodigally from his ever overflowing heart.

1912 C. Mackenzie Carnival xxviii. 284 The two girls followed their host to his room which was hung with rose du Barri draperies prodigally braided with gold.

1976 C. Lesley Life Noel Coward (1978) 331 Before leaving, he prodigally gave Noel this present of a tropicalized grand piano, on which Noel worked and played happily in the years to come.

2004 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 Dec. 8/2 The hurried obscurity of Schiller's burial..contrasts brutally with the joyous, prodigally generous spirit..of a genius ‘clad in light’.