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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Diligence

Diligence \Dil"i*gence\, n. [F. diligence, L. diligentia.]

  1. The quality of being diligent; carefulness; careful attention; -- the opposite of negligence.

  2. Interested and persevering application; devoted and painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduity in service.

    That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence.
    --Shak.

  3. (Scots Law) Process by which persons, lands, or effects are seized for debt; process for enforcing the attendance of witnesses or the production of writings.

    To do one's diligence, give diligence, use diligence, to exert one's self; to make interested and earnest endeavor.

    And each of them doth all his diligence To do unto the fest['e] reverence.
    --Chaucer.

    Syn: Attention; industry; assiduity; sedulousness; earnestness; constancy; heed; heedfulness; care; caution. -- Diligence, Industry. Industry has the wider sense of the two, implying an habitual devotion to labor for some valuable end, as knowledge, property, etc. Diligence denotes earnest application to some specific object or pursuit, which more or less directly has a strong hold on one's interests or feelings. A man may be diligent for a time, or in seeking some favorite end, without meriting the title of industrious. Such was the case with Fox, while Burke was eminent not only for diligence, but industry; he was always at work, and always looking out for some new field of mental effort.

    The sweat of industry would dry and die, But for the end it works to.
    --Shak.

    Diligence and accuracy are the only merits which an historical writer ascribe to himself.
    --Gibbon. [1913 Webster] ||

Diligence

Diligence \Di`li*gence"\, n. [F.] A four-wheeled public stagecoach, used in France.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
diligence

mid-14c., from Old French diligence "attention, care; haste, speed," from Latin diligentia "attentiveness, carefulness," from diligentem (nominative diligens) "attentive, assiduous, careful," originally present participle of diligere "single out, value highly, esteem, prize, love; aspire to, be content with, appreciate," originally "to pick out, select," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + legere "choose, gather" (see lecture (n.)).\n

\nSense evolved from "love" through "attentiveness" to "carefulness" to "steady effort." From the secondary French sense comes the old useage of diligence for "public stage coach" (1742; dilly for short), from a French shortening of carrosse de diligence.

Wiktionary
diligence

n. 1 combination of carefulness and long-term effort (often used to refer to only one of these) 2 carefulness, for example due diligence 3 long-term effort, working hard, the qualities of a hard worker, including conscientiousness, determination, and perseverance 4 A public stage-coach. (19th century, now used only in reference to France or other European countries including Great Britain.)

WordNet
diligence
  1. n. conscientiousness in paying proper attention to a task; giving the degree of care required in a given situation

  2. persevering determination to perform a task; "his diligence won him quick promotions"; "frugality and industry are still regarded as virtues" [syn: industriousness, industry]

  3. a diligent effort; "it is a job requiring serious application" [syn: application]

Wikipedia
Diligence (disambiguation)

Diligence is one of the seven virtues

Diligence may also refer to:

  • Diligence (Scots law) – a legal process in Scots law
  • Diligence (vehicle) – a type of four-wheeled enclosed coach
  • Due diligence – a legal concept
  • De Vlijt (disambiguation) (Dutch for "The Diligence") – a name given to some windmills in the Netherlands
  • La Diligence – an album in the Lucky Luke comics series
  • La Diligence (restaurant) – a Michelin-starred restaurant in Beek, Netherlands

Ships:

  • RFA Diligence (A132) - a fleet repair ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
  • USCGC Diligence (WMEC-616) - a U.S. Coast Guard medium endurance cutter
  • USRC Diligence - one of the first ten cutters operated by the United States' Revenue Cutter Service
  • ST Diligent – a tug operated by the Admiralty between 1947 and 1961.
Diligence

Diligence is steadfast application, assiduousness and industry; the virtue of hard work. It is one of the seven heavenly virtues.

Diligent behavior is indicative of a work ethic; a belief that work is good in itself.

Diligence (Scots law)

Diligence in Scots Law is a process; an execution.

The term has several usages in legal proceedings involving creditors and debtors:

  • Diligence Against the Heritage - A writ of execution by which the creditor proceeds against the real estate of the debtor.
  • Diligence Incident - a writ ordering witnesses and others having information to provide testimony and answer questions.
  • Diligence to Examine Havers - A process to obtain information from those who have it (hence, "havers"), and who must bring records, etc. with them to be examined.
  • Diligence Against the Person - A writ of execution, by which the creditor proceeds against the person of the debtor.
  • Second Diligence - Second letters issued where the first have been disregarded (similar to a contempt of court citation).
  • Summary Diligence - Diligence issued in a summary manner, like an execution of a warrant of attorney.
  • Diligence Against Witnesses - Process to compel the attendance of witnesses.

The definition was taken from the source.

Usage examples of "diligence".

Though the ground was covered with snow, and the weather intensely cold, he travelled with such diligence, that the term prescribed by the proclamation was but one day elapsed when he reached the place, and addressed himself to sir John Campbell, sheriff of the county, who, in consideration of his disappointment at Fort-William, was prevailed upon to administer the oaths to him and his adherents.

By his secrecy and diligence he entertained some hopes of surprising the person of Constans, who was pursuing in the adjacent forest his favorite amusement of hunting, or perhaps some pleasures of a more private and criminal nature.

Madame de Morcerf, after having affectionately embraced her son, entered the coupe of the diligence, which closed upon her.

But they went on merrily, albeit their road winded so much, that the Sage told them, when evening was, that for their diligence they had but come a few short miles as the crow flies.

Had not a momentary impulse tempted me to sing my favorite ditty to the harpsichord, to beguile the short interval, during which my hostess was conversing with her visitor in the next apartment, I should have speeded to New-York, have embarked for Europe, and been eternally severed from my friend, whom I believed to have died in phrenzy and beggary, but who was alive and affluent, and who sought me with a diligence, scarcely inferior to my own.

And yet I hoped through my diligence to make as suitable a provision for her as any of the beplastered wind-bags.

Montfaucon, who on account of his diligence and the extent of his researches is great authority, wrote a dissertation to prove that charta bombycine, cotton paper, was discovered in the empire of the east toward the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century.

As it came near the diligence, my friend Baletti called out to the postillions to stop.

Nor does it deny or denigrate the fact that human beings must, in large measure, work out their non-determined fate with diligence.

Constantine preferred the road of the Cottian Alps, or, as it is now called, of Mount Cenis, and led his troops with such active diligence, that he descended into the plain of Piedmont before the court of Maxentius had received any certain intelligence of his departure from the banks of the Rhine.

He desires to stir them up to diligence in efforts to preserve their doctrinal purity and their personal virtue.

Theodosius pressed forwards to terminate the war by the death or captivity of his rival, who fled before him with the diligence of fear.

Often they had started when, with a sudden movement, his hat entered the diligence through the small window, while he clung with his other arm to the footboard, between the wheels splashing mud.

This time there would be no force, no fustigation or feathering, but only sweet fucking and maybe a bit of gamahuching, for I had already discovered that sweet Alice had the most effervescent of sensual natures when lips and tongue plied that coral nook between her shapely thighs with the expert diligence of which I was capable.

The gamekeeper having exerted as much diligence in quest of the lost goods, as if he had hoped to find them, desired Mr.