c1429 (1986) l. 553 Litteraly haf ȝe herde this dreme and what it ment.

1494 W. Hilton (de Worde) ii. xliii. sig. rv Whan Ihesu is mayster it is expowned and declared litterally , morally, mystily, & heuenly yf the mater suffre it.

1533 J. Frith sig. Dii Allthough it were Literallye fulfillyd in the Childern of Israell..yet was it also mente and veryfyed in Chryst hym selfe.

1579 W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in 105 They interprete literally , which the doctors did write figuratively.

1612 T. Taylor i. 6 He expoundeth the same precept necessarily to be meant litterally .

1664 H. More Apol. in 481 All those Passages are not to be Literally understood.

1719 D. Defoe 311 This was a China-Ware-house indeed, truly and literally to be call'd so.

1783 Ld. Hailes iv. 78 (note) It may be doubted, whether this was ever literally true.

1876 E. Mellor iv. 161 Literally speaking, ‘this cup’ could never be ‘a new covenant’.

1895 Sir A. Kekewich in 73 663/1 It is found that the Act does not mean literally what it says.

1938 26 Nov. 1229/2 Osteosclerosis literally means a hardening of bone, but the term is generally used..to signify bone which casts a dense shadow in a radiogram.

1973 H. Brodkey in 17 Sept. 68/2 She often became very angry with me for taking her literally .