adv. [f. prec. adj. + -LY2.] In a whimsical manner; capriciously; oddly, fantastically.

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1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 100, ¶ 4. I thought it was whimsically said of a Gentleman, That if Varilas had Wit, it would be the best Wit in the World.

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1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, I. xviii. Her passions … were not so whimsically capricious that one man only could lay them.

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1775.  Sheridan, Duenna, II. iv. Was ever truant daughter so whimsically circumstanced as I am?

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1821.  Croker, in C. Papers, 1 Aug. (1884), I. 199. Our supper whimsically served; the first dish being green peas alone.

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a. 1861.  T. Winthrop, Life in Open Air (1863), 103. The mist, white and delicate where we stood, but thick and black above, opened whimsically and delusively.

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1888.  Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men, II. v. 65. How whimsically Wilberforce was capable of blending the pathetic and the playful.

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