adv. [UN-1 11.]
1. Without mercy; mercilessly.
1548. Elyot, Immisericorditer, without pitee, vnmercifully.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. vii. 31. The Amazon … dealt her blowes vnmercifully sore.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., liii. 209. He caused [them] … to be unmercifully butchered.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 145, ¶ 2. He went on unmercifully to Triumph over my Ignorance.
1766. Hamilton, Vesuvius, in Phil. Trans., LVII. 197. I saw it … unmercifully destroy a poor man’s vineyard.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxii. The laws concerning debt, in most countries, are … unmercifully severe.
1860. Froude, Hist. Eng., V. 119. A change in the relations between the peasantry and the owners of the soil … was attempted harshly and unmercifully.
2. Unsparingly, excessively. Now dial.
1686. F. Spence, trans. St. Euvremont’s Misc., Pref. C 3. In a Comedy nothing is so unmercifully insupportable as to … explicate the Intrigue by a Miracle.
1716. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), V. 331. He steals unmercifully, and … without Acknowledgment.
1794. C. Pigot, Female Jockey Club, 139. If surprised by the sight of a black lobster, she screams unmercifully.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., 369. It’s unmercifully bad.
