adv. and a. [See -LIKE.]
A. adv. In a manner or style characteristic of a good workman.
1442. Hist. Dunelm. Scriptores Tres (Surtees), App. p. cccxiii. The said … Alexander [etc.] … sall wirke the said myne werkmanlike.
c. 1565. J. Sparke, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 504. They … doe iagge their flesh,… as workemanlike, as a Ierkin maker with vs pinketh a ierkin.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., xviii. 691. The Gardiner … their selected plants doth workman-like bestowe.
1618–9. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), III. 305. To be all plastered over with lyme and hayer workeman lyke.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 20. Darts of blacke Ebony barbed strongly and workmanlike.
1897. ‘O. Rhoscomyl,’ White Rose Arno, i. You do your work as workmanlike as ever.
B. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to a workman; characteristic of or suitable to a workman, rare.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 103. To write, in such workman-like termes, as may serve for a Clark of the works to speak unto them.
1857. Dickens, Dorrit, I. xxvi. An old workmanlike habit of carrying his pocket-handkerchief in his hat.
2. Characteristic of or resembling (that of) a good workman; orig. said of the execution of a work; later applied also to persons or animals having an efficient, ‘business-like,’ or ‘smart’ appearance or action.
1739. Labelye, Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge, 66. To compleat the intended Bridge … in a compleat and workman-like Manner.
1758. Extr. Crt. Rolls Wimbledon (1866), 318. To cause the same [lane] to be restored … in a workmanlike manner.
1768. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 475. A clock of artificial and workman-like construction.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlv. [He] filled out three glasses of gin, which Job Trotter and Sam disposed of in a most workmanlike manner.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 365. In nailing in the young shoots, dispose them as straight and as regular as possible: it will look workmanlike.
1861. Whyte-Melville, Mkt. Harb., 58. Never in his life had he seen such a thoroughly workmanlike exterior.
1874. Fancier’s Gaz., 4 Dec., 618/1. [A dog] Nice and evenly-balanced all over, workman-like.
1878. Ld. R. Gower, Reminisc. (1883), II. 207. My driver was an active little man from Melbourne, who rattled two very workman-like little horses over the rutty roads at an average rate of eight miles an hour.
1884. J. Cubitt, in Contemp. Rev., July, 98. In stages far above digging and walling there is very much indeed to be done that requires nothing more than good workmanlike ability.
Hence Workmanlikeness.
1890. Day, Every-day Art, 90. Even the amateur should know something of the value of workmanlikeness in ornament.
