punninglyadv.

1731 T. Scott Vox Populi Pt. II (title page) in Phœnix Britannicus 341 Doubtless, our Scottish Traveller, W. Lithgow, had this in View, when he, punningly, says, That he contrabanded his Fistula with a Fist.

1791 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 32/2 Endemon punningly demands from what information Mr. Steevens has framed his dogmatic opinion.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. iii. iii. 163 The Plebeian ‘Court of Cassation’, as Camille might punningly name it, has done its work.

1893 Times 6 May 17/1 A picture punningly named ‘Reflections’—shows a wide stretch of shore—with a donkey standing in the midst.

1905 Musical Times Mar. 156/1 John King, Bishop of London in 1621, who was punningly described by King James ‘the King of preachers’.

1983 Notes & Queries Oct. 463/1 The central motif, which punningly gives the play its title, is that of ‘noting’, overhearing and often misunderstanding.

2003 New Yorker 8 Dec. 135/1 So many women flocked to Zurich to be analyzed by Carl Jung that they were punningly referred to as the Jungfrauen (‘virgins’, in German).