sportivelyadv.

1597 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. f. 68 I saw the soft ayre sportiuely to take it.

1665 J. Crowne Pandion & Amphigenia ii. 92 Her lovely hair, which the wanton wind sportively tossed to and fro.

1678 J. P. tr. J. Johnstone Descr. Nature Four-footed Beasts v. 18/1 They [sc. elephants] among themselves can set-forth a swore fight; and daunce the armour-daunce sportively.

1706 W. Atwood Mod. Inscription to Duke of Marlborough's Fame Pref. sig. b He sate under his Vineyard, Calm and Sedate, Quiet and Safe, like an Eagle Sportively flying about.

1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho III. xi. 371 Now, she moved with solemn steps..and now tripped sportively along the path.

1797 A. Radcliffe Italian II. vi. 180 They sportively threw about their sugar-plumbs.

1807 Salmagundi 24 Nov. 376 The females that passed in review before me, tripping sportively along.

1812 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Purgatorio xvi. 88 Forth from his plastic hand..the soul Comes like a babe, that wantons sportively.

1855 Times 5 Oct. 6/4 An Andrew younger still..now playing with gallipots, and sportively rolling bread-pills into form, who will one day do for the British army all that his grandfather did before him.

1956 Stud. in Renaissance 3 131 A deer leaps sportively among the trees.

1996 Guardian (Nexis) 24 May 6 The man leaps sportively over a flower bed but his neck is arched violently like some archaic warrior.

1631 P. Heylyn Hist. St. George 90 Therefore sportively accoasting him,..said [etc.].

1762 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy V. xxxix. 133 Well, my good doctor, cried my father sportively.

1780 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (2003) IV. 162 A sportively complimentary Conversation took place.

1842 R. Browning Queen-worship: Rudel & Lady of Tripoli in Bells & Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics i Men call the Flower the Sunflower, sportively.

1867 L. M. Child Romance of Republic i. ii. 27 Floracita, dimpling a quick little courtesy, said sportively, ‘If some cruel Blue-Beard should shut us up in his castle, we will send for you.’

1963 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 34 296/1 Witty, perceptive, and sportively malicious, it [sc. a book] provides a once-over-lightly of the American academic scene.

1993 Independent (Nexis) 26 June 15 ‘Jude the Dude’, as her pupils sportively call her, or, more cruelly, ‘Curtains’.

1656 J. Gamble Ayres & Dialogues 6 Whil'st he sportively to steale essaies, He like a wanton Lover 'bout thee plaies.

a1658 J. Cleveland Poems (1659) 89 Archimedes sportively imitated the Heavens in a Globe, what hinders, but that I may affirm Iove to be lively set forth in Charles.

1717 Great Jesuit Swallows Less 24 Unparallel'd Insolence, For a Foreigner.., so saucily to tear in pieces, and sportively toss about the Two great Branches of our Government.

1793 H. M. Williams Lett. France II. 43 One day Lewis XV. sportively created him governor of Lucienne.

1849 C. Brontë Shirley III. v. 125 You remember this little ring fastened to my watch-chain... You have many a time sportively purloined it.

1860 H. E. P. Spofford Sir Rohan's Ghost xxi. 350 A female figure holding in one hand a distaff, the flax from which, as she had spun it out, she had sportively wound about her.

1937 Speculum 12 390 John Bunyan reproached his sinful self with having..sportively rung the churchbells, and read the romance of Beves of Southampton.

1959 Michigan Law Rev. 57 398 Aggression and Horseplay. One employee maliciously or sportively attacks another.

1991 Independent (Nexis) 14 Sept. 31 A man..calling the ghost of his first wife from the spirit world at a seance he has only sportively organised?