1583 A. Marten tr. P. M. Vermigli Common Places ii. xviii. 639/1 The motions of enuie, selfe-pleasing, and of other desires [L. inuidiae, ϕιλαυτίας, & aliarum cupiditatum]..shall haue no longer abiding in vs.

1647 W. Strong Way to Highest Honour 30 The hearts of men commonly are carryed after selfe pleasing..and man pleasing.

1681 J. Owen Humble Testimony 89 All Self-seeking, and Self-pleasing,..must utterly be cast away.

1709 M. Pope Life & Death v. 135 The Gospel..most strictly forbids Self-seeking, and Self-pleasing, as dishonourable to a Redeemer, and injurious to fellow Christians.

1760 W. Romaine 12 Disc. Law & Gospel. ix. 308 The end of all his pursuits is self-seeking, and the end of all his enjoyments is self-pleasing.

1842 H. E. Manning Serm. vii. 98 The greater number of men live lives of mere self-pleasing.

1874 Guardian 22 Apr. 480/1 How will a life of luxury and self-pleasing look when placed side by side with the life of Jesus?

1911 Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 21 130 [He] has been supposed to be the embodiment of intellectual self-pleasing and logical irresponsibility.

2001 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 17 May 52/1 The idyllic notion that one might devote oneself to solitude among friends, to study and to horticulture..was not a conception entertained purely for motives of self-pleasing.

1610 R. Gibbons tr. L. de la Puente Meditat. Myst. Holy Faith ii. xii. 132 The foundation of the Praises of God..is to bee the acknowledging of our owne basenesse, and indignitye: for in this sorte there will be no perill of mixing vaine selfe-pleasing [Sp. complacencia], as it happened to the prowde Pharisee.

1634 P. Studley Looking-glasse of Schisme 89 Thus the best of men, who are naturally prone to selfe-flattery, selfe-pleasing, and spirituall securitie; have the edge of gracious care, vigilancie, and circumspection, blunted and abated.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits ix. 151 Their culture generally enables the travelled English to avoid any ridiculous extremes of this self-pleasing.

?1555 M. Coverdale tr. O. Werdmüller Godlye & Learned Treat. xviii. sig.H.iiii To the Colossians doth Paul most euidentlye reiecte the selfe pleasing gods seruice, ethelothreschian, which..signifieth a self willed & selfchosen religion & gods seruice.

1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 24 The most ordinarie cause of a single life is liberty; specially in certain self-pleasing & humorous minds, which are so sensible of euery restriction [etc.].

1677 F. Bampfield All in One 55 The fanciful framings, and imaginary Worlds of self-pleasing Dreamers.

1755 H. Marshall Observ. conc. Christ 13 The Children of Men, in their fallen degenerate Wisdom, have..found out many inventions, and self-pleasing Ways of Religion.

1855 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 27 Feb. By pursuing this self-pleasing course of study [sc. a laissez faire system of education],..his mind lacked discipline.

1914 Art & Progress 5 159/2 But what choice, choice carried to its farthest, this heretic, this self-pleasing chooser, has put into his pictures of thin women, bare rooms and few things.

2012 Observer (Nexis) 22 July 62 Maintaining a long-term relationship..in our secular, self-pleasing, morality-light culture is a challenge in itself.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. iv. sig. Ee8 With such selfe-pleasing thoughts her wound she fedd.

1650 J. Gobert True & Lively Char. Church-member sig. C5 Some selfe-pleasing Pharisee, who ordinarily carries about him a multiplying glasse, as it were to put others faults in,..but views his owne at a greater distance.

1734 A. Pope Epist. to Arbuthnot 90 Who shames a Scribler? break one cobweb thro', He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread anew.

1818 Brit. Rev. 12 191 His vanity and self-pleasing activity prevent him from suspecting that he is only swelling his book.

1952 Classical Jrnl. 47 267/1 Pliny shares his self-pleasing and self-pleased ostentatio with such other great Roman writers as Horace.

2016 Washington Post Blogs (Nexis) 22 July He tends to oscillate between red-throated bluster..[and] self-pleasing pomposity.