rigoriousadj.

c1515 [implied in: Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxxxi. 247 He began to speke rygoryously to haue occacyon of some stryfe betwene vs. (at rigoriously adv. at Derivatives)].

1517 S. Hawes Pastime of Pleasure (1928) i. 13 He brake fyrst horses wylde and rygoryous.

1703 tr. L. E. Du Pin New Eccl. Hist. 16th Cent. I. 366 Under the Ancient Law, which was so strict and rigorious, a Priest was tolerated tho' his Sin was publick and known, provided he did Penance.

1792 Parl. Reg. 1781–96 XXXII. 47 Provisions..framed for the purpose of facilitating and expediting payments to the army..used to a direct contrary effect, perhaps by too rigorious a construction.

1822 D. J. McCord Rep. Constit. Court S.-Carolina 1 444 It cannot be thought too rigorious to establish this rule in regard to ferrymen.

1973 SubStance 3 11 It is these rigorious demands of a precise scientific description which render Lévi-Strauss suspicious of all traditional notions of an individual subject.

1999 Brit. Jrnl. Sociol. Educ. 20 164 The strong grammars of horizontal knowledge structures..often achieve their power by rigorious restrictions on the empirical phenomena they address.

c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lxxxi. 247 He began to speke rygoryously to haue occacyon of some stryfe betwene vs.

1535 Bp. J. Fisher Spirituall Consolation (?1578) sig. Cv^v And yet he..did not..reuenge him selfe vppon you rigoriously.

1647 G. Tooke Belides 55 Where some coorse Is rigoriously pursu'd by Nemesis, And even with all her snakes; Let us dimisse It far, and far I say.

1838 Calcutta Monthly Jrnl. May 41/1 Laws..by which I could be hanged, transported, banished for life, imprisoned simply or rigoriously, and fined sans stint.

1964 Musical Times 105 344/2 Strohbach's rhythms are more rigoriously tied to the simple harmonic pulse.

2002 This Day (Nigeria) (Nexis) 15 Jan. We must focus on that [sc. finding the killers] rigoriously. And that is serious, and a matter of priority on our plates.