Diligence \Dil"i*gence\, n. [F. diligence, L. diligentia.]
1. The quality of being diligent; carefulness; careful
attention; -- the opposite of negligence.
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2. Interested and persevering application; devoted and
painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken;
assiduity in service.
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That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified
in; and the best of me is diligence. --Shak.
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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.
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To do one's diligence, give diligence, use diligence,
to exert one's self; to make interested and earnest
endeavor.
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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.
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The sweat of industry would dry and die,
But for the end it works to. --Shak.
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Diligence and accuracy are the only merits which
an historical writer ascribe to himself. --Gibbon.
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