adv. [f. prec. + -LY2.] In an economical manner.
1. With reference to, or from the point of view of, economic science.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 172. The best examples of the application of science, economically to agriculture, can, I suspect, be found in Virginia.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., v. (ed. 3), 49. Economically considered, the existence of mankind is conditioned by some sort of saving.
2. In a thrifty or saving, as opposed to a wasteful, manner.
1812. Examiner, 27 Sept., 620/1. Those resources the Kingdom should economically apply?
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India (1845–8), III. 549. The object might be attained … more economically, by the appointment of a Lieutenant-Governor.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 415/2. Labour can be more … economically carried out.
3. Theol. According to the method or subject to the conditions of the divine economy.
1696. Lorimer, Goodwin’s Disc., vii. 71. The Sin of Man … disabled the Law of Works that it could not give that Eternal Life which after the Fall it promised only œconomically.
1817. G. S. Faber, Eight Dissertations (1845), I. 36. God the Father … economically declares his high behests through the medium of the Word.
1864. J. H. Newman, Apologia, 67. The system which is of less importance is economically or sacramentally connected with the more momentous system.
