Search the Dictionary

Made with, or requiring, great labor, pains, or diligence. [Obs.] Shak.

k; slight; inconsiderable; as, little attention or exertion;little effort; little care or diligence. By sad experiment I know How little weight my words with thee can find. Milton.

Greedy of gain [Obs.] Such diligence as the most part of our lucrative lawyers do use, in deferring and prolonging of matters and actions from term to term. Latimer.

The quality or state of being negligent; lack of due diligence or care; omission of duty; habitual neglect; heedlessness.

Excessive care or diligence. [Obs.]

Resolute; persevering; constant; steady. Diligence is a steady, constant, and pertinacious study. South.

Progressing in a slow, toilsome manner; characterized by laborious diligence; as, a plodding peddler; a plodding student; a man of plodding habits. --Plod"ding*ly, adv.

To practice or perform with diligence; to work at. Their bloody task, unwearied, still they ply. Waller.

reverences upon receiving . . . about twopence. Goldsmith. And each of them doeth all his diligence To do unto the feast reverence. Chaucer.

The act of shriving. In shrift and preaching is my diligence. Chaucer.

Remiss; backward; not using due diligence or care; not earnest or eager; as, slack in duty or service. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. 2 Pet. iii. 9.

Closely examined; read with diligence and attention; made the subject of study; well considered; as, a studied lesson.

ent of property; to increase in goods and estate; as, a farmer thrives by good husbandry. Diligence and humility is the way to thrive in the riches of the understanding, as well as in gold. I. Watts.

To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business. Use hospitality one to another. 1 Pet. iv. 9.

or sharpening, edge tools. The dullness of the fools is the whetstone of the wits. Shak. Diligence is to the understanding as the whetstone to the razor. South.