boyishlyadv.
/ˈbɔɪᵻʃli/, U.S. /ˈbɔɪᵻʃli/ In a boyish manner; like a boy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > childish folly, childishness > [adverb] > male
boyishly1581
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 64 And the same question repeateth agayne and agayne very boyeshly.
1695 J. Williams Vindic. Serm. John Arch-Bp. Canterbury i. 15 Thus scoffingly and boyishly doth he introduce this serious Argument.
1720 J. Leigh Kensington-Gardens iv. 57 His Conversation with Men is impertinent, and officiously familiar; with Women boyishly shamefac'd.
1758 Dramatic Execution of Agis 23 The misformed Interlocutors of those Stage-Dialogues, are boyishly figurative, declamatory, and sometimes metaphysical.
1807 A. M. Porter Hungarian Brothers I. i. 29 To hide the sensibility, which boyishly he blushed at.
1849 C. Stovel Canne's Necessitie of Separation Introd. p. cvii Boyishly exclaiming, ‘No bishop, no king’.
1901 F. Norris Octopus ii. v. 466 Annixter was so boyishly proud of the effect that it would have been unkind to have undeceived him.
1999 Guardian 1 Feb. ii. 3/3 He has small, even features, a shock of cowlicky brown hair that droops boyishly down over his forehead.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adv.1581