a. [f. as prec. + -LY1.] Worthy of, becoming or befitting, a sportsman; sportsmanlike. So Sportsmanliness.

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1778.  [W. H. Marshall], Minutes Agric., 9 Sept. 1776. But the rules of Sportsmanliness are not so generally understood as those of Good-Breeding. Ibid. It is sometimes sportsmanly to suffer the huntsman to pursue the hounds, where it would be unsportsmanly in any other horseman to follow.

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1858.  Standard, 10 Dec., 7/4. The farmer would be his own gamekeeper, and I am much mistaken in his sportsmanly tastes if he did not prove a pretty efficient one.

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1912.  H. W. Nevinson, in Nation, 5 Oct., 9/1. My sportsmanly approval was misplaced.

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