sportfullyadv.
/ˈspɔːtfᵿli/, /ˈspɔːtfl̩i/, U.S. /ˈspɔrtf(ə)li/ In a sportful manner; playfully, jokingly.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > playfulness > [adverb]
gamelya1375
gamefullyc1410
gamesomelya1425
wantonlya1475
sportfullya1586
sportively1597
lasciviously1607
puppy-like1617
sportinglya1639
playsomely1646
playfully1736
disportively1810
kittenishly1896
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > lack of seriousness > [adverb]
agamec1300
bourdfullya1400
in sportc1450
aplay1459
bourdly1500
in jest1551
bourdingly1552
sportingly1561
jestingly1569
sportingwise1579
sportfullya1586
sportively1656
for fun1750
flippantly1758
pour rire1872
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xvii. sig. Ss1v [This] vnfathered Lady could sportfully put on the Lions skin vpon her owne faire shoulders.
a1633 G. Herbert Priest to Temple (1652) ix. 33 He..talkes..also in a serious manner, never jestingly or sportfully.
1757 Revol. Modesty 145 He yields to the kind Impulse of Zephyrus, and sportfully hops from Shoulder to Shoulder.
1782 J. Brown Compend. View Nat. & Revealed Relig. vi. i. 527 This commandment forbiddeth..our profaning and abusing his name..in angrily or sportfully cursing.
1831 T. Carlyle in Foreign Q. Rev. 8 360 Nor in his satire does he ever lose temper but rebukes sportfully.
1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth III. iv. 95 But tell me, since they bit thee not, but sportfully licked thee, what harm?
1917 D. H. Lawrence Compl. Poems (1993) 272 The gush of spring is strong enough To toss the globe of earth like a ball on a water-jet Dancing sportfully.
2002 Financial Mail (S. Africa) (Nexis) 6 Sept. 9 My friend's quest for an epiphany was rewarded by the sight of several tahrs playing sportfully on a ledge below a dazzling waterfall.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.a1586- to one's deathward
- to one's face
- to one's face, teeth
- to one's feet
- to one's finger ends
- to one's fingernails
- to one's fingers' ends
- to one's fingertips
- to one's frame
- to one's grave
- to one's hand
- to one's heart's content
- to one's knees
- to one's knowledge, power , remembrance
- to one's knowledge, power obs, remembrance
- to one's large
- to one's last legs
- to one's mind
- to one's name
- to one's nose
- to one's oeps
- to one's own cheek
- to one's pay
- to one's peril
- to one's power