[f. LIGHTSOME a.1 + -LY2.] Lightly, nimbly; gaily, merrily.

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1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, I. (1577), E 1 b. He settleth himselfe lightsomly (not thinking vpon it) in a readie aptnesse.

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1668.  H. More, Div. Dial., III. xvi. (1713), 214. Though the Phancy of Cuphophron may seem more than ordinary ludibund and lightsomely sportful.

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1808.  Scott, Marm., II. Introd. The bugles ringing lightsomely.

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1837.  Hawthorne, Twice-told T. (1851), II. ix. 131. I perceive a flock of snow birds, skimming lightsomely through the tempest.

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1877.  Mrs. Oliphant, Makers Flor., iii. 88. They now most lightsomely live in that happiness to which there comes no end.

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