1556. J. Heywood, Spider & Flie, Bb iij b. To se these flies now: so vnstedily stagger, So late so redie.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. X. § 31. He that uses his Words loosly and unsteadily, will either be not minded, or not understood.
c. 1700. Congreve, Ovid’s Art of Love, Wks. 1773, III. 276. This way and that unsteadily they rove, And, never fix’d, are fugitives in Love.
1736. Bolingbroke, Idea Patriot King (1749), 71. Considering how unsteadily and unsystematically even the best of men are apt often to proceed.
1817. Coleridge, Lay Serm., ‘Blessed are ye,’ 37. The cup of sorrow overflows by being held unsteadily.
1847. De Quincey, Sp. Mil. Nun, Wks. 1853, III. 60. As idle as the flapping sail that fills unsteadily with the breeze upon a stranded ship.
1897. Mrs. E. L. Voynich, Gadfly, I. vii. The man approached unsteadily along the water side.
