worldly wisdomn.

OE St. Euphrosyne (Julius) in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 336 Se fæder þa gelærde þæt mæden, mid halgum gewritum, and godcundum rædingum, and mid eallum woruldlicum wisdome.

OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iv. ix. 272 Twegen æþele weras wæron, þa wæron gelærde wel & getydde mid woruldlicum wisdomum.

c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Bodl.) (1981) l. 195 Þes sondesmon..brohte wið him fifti scolmeistres..in alle wittes of worldliche wisdomes wisest o worlde.

?1387 T. Wimbledon Serm. (Corpus Cambr.) (1967) 73 (MED) I hope þat þer wole no man seie þat þey ne shulde betere lerne reule of good lyuyng in þe book of Goddis lawe þan in eny bokes of mennys worldly wysdom.

c1450 (c1440) S. Scrope in tr. C. de Pisan Epist. of Othea (Longleat) (1904) 4 Exemplys temporell of policie, gouernaunce and worldlye wysdoms.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 34 (MED) Þan shal be heier exalted meke obedience þan all worldly wisdom.

c1500 (?a1475) Assembly of Gods (1896) l. 303 Next to Cupido..Of worldly wysdom sate the forteresse Callyd Othea,..of Prudence the goddese.

a1640 P. Massinger City-Madam (1658) iii. iii. 47 Luke. True worldly wisdom. Sir John. All knowledge else is folly.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. i. 92 Nor is there any paternal Fondness which seems less to savour of absolute Instinct, and which may so well be reconciled to worldly Wisdom as this.

1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc viii. 498 Who in the deceitful scales Of worldly wisdom, dare to counterpoise The right with the expedient.

1848 Times 21 June 6/2 She is not destitute of cunning, but an excess of girlish spirits distinguishes her from the rest of the dramatis personæ, who, with more consummate worldly wisdom, move easily through an atmosphere of ‘raffishness’.

1880 A. Trollope Duke's Children I. iii. 34 He was wise enough with worldly wisdom to understand thoroughly the comforts of a good income.

1905 E. Wharton House of Mirth ii. v. 381 Her worldly wisdom would have counselled her against such an act of abnegation.

1949 F. Towers Tea with Mr. Rochester (1952) 106 That expression of ennui and faint disdain which..vaguely suggests, to such as Etta, unplumbable depths of worldly wisdom and experience.

1995 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 12 Sept. b4 At 75 years of age, [she] is endowed with a respectable dose of worldly wisdom. She has lived through and consciously tried to learn from many experiences, good and bad.