▪ I. diligent, a. (adv.)
(ˈdɪlɪdʒənt)
Also 5–6 deligent.
[a. F. diligent (13–14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. L. dīligent-em attentive, assiduous, careful, in origin pr. pple. of dīligĕre to value or esteem highly, love, choose, affect, take delight in (doing); cf. Pr. diligent,Sp. and It. diligente.]
1. Of persons: ‘Constant in application, persevering in endeavour, assiduous’, industrious; ‘not idle, not negligent, not lazy.’ J.
| 1340 Ayenb. 32 Uolk..þet by diligent ine þet hi byeþ yhyealde to done. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 268 Oure covent To pray for yow is ay so diligent. c 1430 Syr Gener. 1152 Thei wer diligent in here seruice. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xc. 7 To fast and pray..We synfull folk sulde be more deligent. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xiii. 4 The soule of the diligent shal haue plenty. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 14 b, A painefull and diligent Bayliffe. 1583 Hollyband Campo di Fior 53 Philopon is diligentest, and honestest of all. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. iii. 38 He that will be diligent to know..the true allowances. 1771 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 351 Though he is not very active in the House, few are more diligent attenders. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 427 Comforts and luxuries..now unknown..may be within the reach of every diligent and thrifty working man. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. ix. 224 He was a diligent student, working day and night. |
2. Of actions, etc.: Constantly or steadily applied; prosecuted with activity and perseverance; assiduous.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 89 (Mätz.) Al these thynges, Founde of olde tyme by diligent travaile. ? a 1500 Wycket (1828) 1 Not in ydle lyuynge, but in diligente labourynge. 1703 W. Dampier Voy. III. Pref. A iv b, Things..worthy of our Diligentest Search and Inquiry. 1847 Longfellow Ev. ii, Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent shuttle. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid i. 455 Artist's cunning, and workman's diligent hand. |
† 3. Attentive, observant, heedful, careful. (Of persons and their actions, etc.) Obs.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 199 Men moun be delyuerid of manye greet sijknessis if her leche is kunnynge & diligent aboute hem. ? c 1460 Sir R. Ros La Belle Dame sanz Mercy 112 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 55 In his langage not gretely dyligente. 1535 Coverdale Job xlii. 5, I haue geuen diligent eare vnto the. a 1552 Somerset in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 730 b, It maie appere vnto vs mete, more diligenter hede to be taken. 1593 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. i. (1611) 85 For lacke of diligent obseruing the difference. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 73 A very diligent and observing person. 1701 Swift Contests Nobles & Commons iii, That exact and diligent writer Dionysius Halicarnasseus. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. v. iv, On a very diligent examination of my own mind..I do not find that..any such picture is formed. |
† b. Attentive to others; assiduous in service.
| 1566 Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees 1835) 264 All my children to be delegent and obbedient to hir as becummithe them. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 105 Not like a waiting woman, but like a diligent Squire. 1689 Shadwell Bury F. i. i, He will be diligent and fawning. |
† B. adv. = diligently. Obs.
| 1479 Eng. Gilds 413 So that..they may the better, sewrer, and more diligenter, execute..their said Officez. 1556 Lauder Tractate 228 Quhilk suld be taucht most deligent Be faithfull Pastors. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 9 He wayted diligent, With humble service to her will prepard. |
▪ II. † ˈdiligent, v. Obs. rare.
[ad. F. diligent-er to execute with diligence (15th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), f. diligent diligent.]
trans. To bestow diligence upon; to work at diligently.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (1634) iv. vi. 197 Be [the earth]..neuer so well diligented and picked, yet alwayes therein will remaine..seeds of vnlooked for weeds. |