[f. as prec. + -ING2.] That trusts: see the verb.
c. 1450. [implied in TRUSTINGLY].
1545. Elyot, Fretus, of fruor, trustyng.
1693. Humours Town, 27. Believing Vintners, Tailors, Sempstresses, and the rest of the trusting Shopkeepers.
1707. Prior, Sat. Poets, 75. You’ve no Friend left, but trusting Landlady.
1790. Han. More, Relig. Fash. World (1791), 108. Unsuspecting goodness, and trusting honesty.
1816. Byron, Parisina, v. She must lay her conscious head A husband’s trusting heart beside.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxviii. He was of a kindly, gentle, trusting nature.
Hence Trustingly adv., in a trusting manner; Trustingness, the quality of being trusting or trustful; trustfulness.
c. 1450. trans. De Imitatione, III. viii. 75. He … lasse *trustingly thynkyth or felyth of me þan it behoueþ.
1826. Mrs. Hemans, League of Alps, etc., 67.
| And beautiful ’midst that wild scene, | |
| Gleam’d up the boy’s dead face, | |
| Like Slumber’s, trustingly serene, | |
| In melancholy grace. |
1849. Fraser’s Mag., XL. 645. Most firmly and trustingly do I believe.
1883. Const. F. Woolson, For the Major, iv. The person one loves becomes … trustingly dependent like a … child, upon one’s … care.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 49 (1822), I. 386. Clearness of blood, freshness of perception, and *trustingness of heart.
1839. Caroline Gilman, Tales & Ball., 146. He stood in strength, and she in trustingness.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. viii. Sure there is no bound to the trustingness of women.
