[f. as prec.] The fact, quality or condition of being sportive.
1601. Yarington, Two Lament. Traj., E 3.
| Pick out mens eyes, and tell them thats the sport, | |
| Of hood-man-blinde, without all sportiuenesse. |
1653. Walton, Angler, i. Shall I conclude her simple, that has her time to begin, or refuse sportiveness as freely as I myself have?
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 95. The virgin mother’s looks most exquisitely express her sweet complacency at their innocent sportiveness.
1779. Mirror, No. 2. In the first character I may sometimes indulge a sportiveness to which I am a stranger in the latter.
1838. Dickens, Nickleby, xviii. Some very pretty sportiveness ensued.
1858. Doran, Court Fools, 132. The warrant being drawn up in sportiveness, he signed the document.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 223. The young of all creatures … are always … overflowing with sportiveness and delight at something.
