1608 T. Cooper Christians Daily Sacrifice xix. 185 And this serueth..To condemne al time-seruing.

1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. iii. vi. 419 Let them goe on, get wealth,..by impudence, and time-seruing, let them..crosse me on every side.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. xix. 202 There be foure kinds of Time-serving: first, out of Christian discretion, which is commendable; second, out of humane infirmity, which is more pardonable; third, and fourth, out of ignorance, or affection, both which are damnable.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 445. ¶6 I have been accused by these despicable Wretches of Trimming, Time-serving.

1724 R. Digby Let. to Pope 28 Dec. (1735) I. 283 Instead of the four Cardinal Virtues, now reign four Princely ones; we have cunning for Prudence, Rapine for Justice, Time-serving for Fortitude, and Luxury for Temperance.

1776 G. Sharp Law of Retribution 146 The shameful Spirit of Time-serving, Venality, and Private Interest, which is every where predominant.

1822 Ld. Byron Let. 27 Aug. (1979) IX. 197 I do suspect that the said Committee, having in part served its time to time-serving, may have kept back the acknowledgement of an obnoxious politician's name in their lists.

1894 M. Oliphant Hist. Sketch Queen Anne vi. 315 It was all devotion, not time-serving as the vulgar thought.

1924 H. H. Asquith Stud. & Sketches i. 29 His more than Pauline capacity of being all things to all men gained him an undeserved reputation for time-serving, and even for insincerity.

1988 Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Jan. 52/2 He chronicles the trimming, time-serving and double-dealing, the profitable thievery and betrayals of those epic years.

1571 J. Northbrooke Spiritus est Vicarius Christi: Breefe Summe Christian Faith Ep. Ded. sig. A3 The fruits of timeseruyng hypocrites.

1629 W. Prynne Church of Englands Old Antithesis 52 Not by some one or two..ambitious, time-seruing, nouellizing..Diuines.

1638 T. Herbert Some Yeares Trav. (rev. ed.) 99 His owne two sonnes..brought also to Mahobet by tyme-serving Madoffer-chan to abide his mercy.

1678 G. Hickes Ravillac Redivivus 26 There are many peevish time-serving Professors, who resolve they shall never suffer so long as they have either Soul or Conscience, to morgage.

1756 Select Tales & Fables II. 142 Time-serving Sycophants..appear under any Disguise that best suits with the Accomplishment of their sordid Views.

a1797 M. Wollstonecraft Wrongs of Woman (1798) II. xi. 49 Had I had more affection for my husband, I should have expressed my contempt of this time-serving politeness.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. xii. iii. 395 The school of time-serving morality.

1860–70 W. Stubbs Lect. European Hist. (1904) i. viii. 100 The leading man..was a time-serving rogue.

1899 ‘S. C. Grier’ Like Another Helen (ed. 2) xv. 296 Our leaders were prepared to overlook this former time-serving behaviour in return for their assistance in crushing the Nabob.

1949 H. A. R. Gibb Mohammedanism i. 16 The more scrupulous were loth to hold any religious office under the Sultans and, in rejecting public service, left the field to their more time-serving and less scrupulous brethren.

1986 T. J. Luce in I. S. Moxon et al. Past Perspectives 149 Seneca the time-serving minister versus the persecuted martyr in his last days.

1627 R. Perrot Tithes 70 His ships..full richly stowed with all manner of choice and time-serving commodities.

1846 Abstr. Mass. School Returns 1845–6 187 We want..no time-serving teachers, whose only end is to secure to themselves a little pecuniary assistance... We want those, and those only, whose aim is to be useful.

1922 Canad. Law Times 42 568 Leaving the erstwhile enthusiast, and aspirant for eminence, a stagnant and time-serving official.

1979 New Scientist 14 June 890/1 There are, no doubt, scientific equivalents of time-serving penpushers. But these are not reasons for paying scientists less than other civil servants.

2000 New Yorker 25 Dec. 68/3 A time-serving British diplomat in Nairobi, waiting to be put out to grass.

1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 8 [To] ascribe it chiefly to Ignorance, although I think Time-servingness and Malice hath the greatest Share.

1812 T. J. Hogg Life Shelley (1858) II. 196 The address..so barefaced a piece of time-servingness.

1911 ‘J. E. Buckrose’ Love in Little Town xii. 201 ‘Oh, the wicked time-servingness of man!’ said Mrs. Wallerby, pale with anger.