adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] trifling manner or degree.
1547–64. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), 126. See that thou swearest not … falsely & vntruely, or vainely & triflingly.
1601. Deacon & Walker, Answ. to Darel, 123. You deale too triflinglie with your ignorant Reader.
1759. Goldsm., Pol. Learn., ii. When philosophy became abstruse, or triflingly minute.
1763. Wilkes, Corr. (1805), I. 173. However triflingly this affair may have been talked of, it is, in reality, of very serious and general consequence.
1828. New England Farmer, 25 July, 7/1. An elderly lady, finding herself triflingly indisposed, sent for some peppermint, and took a few drops; it produced a stupor, and on examination of the phial, it contained hemlock.
1865. G. Meredith, Rhoda Fleming, vi. He had winced triflingly at one or two expressions.
1885. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 16 May, 4/4. The Proverbs and Song of Solomon are arranged as poetry, and triflingly interfered with.
