[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

diligence \dil"igence\, n. f. diligence, l. diligentia.
   1. the quality of being diligent; carefulness; careful
      attention; -- the opposite of negligence.
      1913 webster

   2. interested and persevering application; devoted and
      painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken;
      assiduity in service.
      1913 webster

            that which ordinary men are fit for, i am qualified
            in; and the best of me is diligence.  --shak.
      1913 webster

   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.
      1913 webster

   to do one's diligence, give diligence, use diligence,
      to exert one's self; to make interested and earnest
      endeavor.
      1913 webster

            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.
        1913 webster

              the sweat of industry would dry and die,
              but for the end it works to.        --shak.
        1913 webster

              diligence and accuracy are the only merits which
              an historical writer ascribe to himself. --gibbon.
        1913 webster
see also:
to do one's diligence give diligence use diligence diligence industry 

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