pestilently, adv.
(ˈpɛstɪləntlɪ)
[f. pestilent a. + -ly2.]
In a pestilent manner.
1. Perniciously, noxiously, mischievously.
| 1528 Tindale Obed. Chr. Man Wks. (1573) 128 Would he spare..to alleage, and to wrest other doctors pestilently, which feareth not for to iugle wyth the holy scripture? 1563–83 Foxe A. & M. 56 Some..haue most pestilently abused the authoritie of the holy and auncient fathers. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. ix. §7 The smell nevertheless encreased, and became above all measure pestilently noisome. |
2. Annoyingly; intolerably; excessively, outrageously, ‘plaguily’.
| 1567 Trial Treas. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 271 But some⁓time they cumber me pestilently. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 35 The pretence of making People sagacious, and pestilently witty. 1883 Standard 16 May 5/8 The most pestilently annoying bird in the world. |
So ˈpestilentness, the character of being pestilent.
| 1727 in Bailey vol. II; and in later Dicts. |