[f. as prec. + -ING2.] That toys; playful, sportive; esp. amorously sportive.
a. 1566. R. Edwardes, Damon & Pythias, Prol. 6. Frustrate quite of toying plaies.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 155, ¶ 4. None of these toying Fools will do any more … to preserve her from Infamy.
1769. G. White, Selborne, xxii. (1853), 93. When the cock has been pursuing the hen in a toying way through the boughs of a tree.
Hence Toyingly adv.
1731. Bailey, Toyingly. triflingly, wantonly.
1821. I. Taylor, Scenes in Europe, 96.
| Never for languor shall Annette be chid, | |
| Oglingly, leeringly, | |
| Toyingly, fearingly, | |
| Jokingly, laughingly, just as you’re bid. |
