a. Obs. [f. SPORT sb.1 + -LY1.]
1. Of or pertaining to, connected with, sport; sporting; sportsmanlike.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1741/3. As many as wish well to their Town, or are Incouragers of Sportly Meetings.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. 217. As little favourable … as these sportly gentleman are … towards the care or culture of their own species.
1781. P. Beckford, Th. Hunting (1802), 185. You also object to my saying catch a fox: you call it a bad expression, and say that it is not sportly.
2. Sportive, frolicsome, playful. rare–1.
1696. A. de la Pryme, Diary (Surtees), 78. Turneps … make them so sportly, lively, and vigorous that they play and leap like young kidds.
