zealouslyadv.

?1495 R. Fitzjames Sermo Die Lune in Ebdomada Pasche (de Worde) sig. bi^v And agayn to take grete shame & conscyence whan we rede them to haue doon so zelously in goddys cause.

1544 G. Joye Present Consol. Sufferers Persecucion sig. C. iij Thus haue ye the answere of god wherfore he geueth his blessinges to the wyked, commandinge vs not to folowe theyr stepes, nor yet zelously to enuye their prosperite, but paciently to abyde a lytle.

1575 T. Vautrollier tr. M. Luther Comm. Epist. to Galathians f. 24^v At the first when the light of the gospel..began to appeare, many were zelously bent to godlines.

1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. to Rdr. sig. A4 To professe it [sc. Religion] zealously.

1645 J. Milton Sonnet ix, in Poems 50 Thy care is fixt, and zealously attends To fill thy odorous Lamp with deeds of light.

1661 in O. Airy Lauderdale Papers (1884) I. 92 The chanslir is selusslie your frind.

1716 Polit. State Great Brit. Oct. 404 You all remember how zealously, a few Years ago, these very Men join'd in the Cry of the Danger of the Church.

1769 ‘Junius’ Polit. Contest iii. 18 You zealously undertook the cause of that gallant army.

1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. ii. 36 We know how fond ants are of honey, and how zealously and unremittingly they search for food.

1886 W. Besant Children of Gibeon II. ii. v. 13 A place..where there was no prospect of improvement, however zealously one worked.

1926 Times 31 Aug. 14/5 He addressed himself zealously to the study of Turkish.

1975 Crisis Nov. 369/3 They have zealously guarded the right of expression.

2006 R. Kagan Dangerous Nation (2007) iii. 97 An ambitious nation zealously committed to overseas trade.

1644 J. Milton Doctr. Divorce (ed. 2) 19 It will easily be true that a father or brother may be hated zealously, and lov'd civilly or naturally.