\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.

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