1621 R. Jenison Height Israels Idolatrie iii. 14 This selfe-sacrificing is witnessed by diuers, and as Linschoten affirmeth, is still in vse.

1647 T. Matthew Missive of Consol. Introd. sig. A7 This holy order of self-sacrificing and offering up all our temporall distresses to Gods pleasure.

1843 W. A. Scott Duty of Praying for Our Rulers 13 O Scotland.., the self-sacrificings and sufferings of thy people, shall come up for an ever-lasting memorial for thee before the Lord of hosts.

1880 Age-temptation Amer. Christians vii. 97 The empty self-sacrificings of a morbid and self-righteous asceticism.

1910 Ames (Iowa) Intelligencer 20 Jan. 6/4 Our participation with our Lord Jesus in suffering for righteousness, in self-denials, self-sacrificings of the same character as those endured by the Master.

1975 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 11 Dec. (Inside Football section) 4/2 The San Francisco 49er tight end finally had to be helped from the field. That courageous performance ranks with such recent 49er self-sacrificings as Rosey Taylor's being knocked out three times against Green Bay in 1970.

2013 B. Mayer in Intergenerational Relations ii. x. 173 This self-sacrificing..can be seen as a form of unconditional emotional support given to the partner.

1654 W. Montagu Miscellanea Spiritualia: 2nd Pt. iv. 61 The multitude which passed both before and after him, in this self-sacrificing order, were to honour and praise him in their sufferances.

1817 T. Moore Paradise & Peri in Lalla Rookh (ed. 2) 149 That precious sigh Of pure, self-sacrificing love.

1897 W. E. Gladstone E. Crisis 14 In the midst of a high and self-sacrificing enthusiasm, the Greek Government and people have shown good sense.

1919 M. Beer Hist. Brit. Socialism I. ii. v. 162 He could be their self-sacrificing father and teacher, their authoritative adviser and leader, but never the primus inter pares.

1953 Encounter Nov. 31/2 The unfulfilled urge ‘to belong’ may lead to ‘political oversexedness’, expressing itself in blind, self-sacrificing devotion to some unholy cause.

2004 New Yorker 2 Aug. 61/1 To give a kidney was a self-sacrificing self-dramatizing act.

1839 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Aug. 167 She labored on faithfully, self-sacrificingly in her toilsome occupation.

1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xix. 334 ‘Aren't you happy?’ asked Miss Fulkes,..self-sacrificingly determined that the child should show himself wild with joy to see his parents.

2003 Sight & Sound Dec. 57/1 Joan Crawford in Humoresque (1946), marching self-sacrificingly into the sea in full evening dress.

1869 Brit. Controversialist 3rd Ser. 351 Even his enemies learned to appreciate..the self-sacrificingness of his disposition.

1918 R. H. Newton Catholicity ii. 66 Hebrew story gives an infinitely pathetic picture of the great emancipator's self-sacrificingness.

1993 J. Annas Morality of Happiness (1995) x. 225 There is no distinct value in self-sacrificingness, nor is it thought to be desirable for an agent to be so disposed as regularly to put the interests of others before her own.