a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) l. 10819 Euery man shulde haue a-fore þoȝt [Fr. deit estre purpensé] How and whan hys synne was wroȝt..Fyrst are he to shryfte ȝede.

c1475 (c1450) P. Idley Instr. to his Son (Cambr.) (1935) i. l. 919 Iff in thy defence a man þou slee And not for vengeaunce and aforethought, Thy wille woll excused that þou be.

1797 J. Wentworth Compl. Syst. Pleading IV. 48 The said John Clark and Edward, otherwise Ned Hobbins, him the said Abraham Campbell, in manner and form aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully, and of their aforethoughts, did kill and murder.

1830 J. F. W. Herschel Prelim. Disc. Study Nat. Philos. i. iii. 55 Deliberately, of afore-thought, to devise remedies.

1913 Good Housek. Mag. July 71/1 I say ‘seemingly’ with aforethought.

1965 D. Nobbs Itinerant Lodger (1968) xv. 69 You may think that this is sufficient to prove that he was wilful and had malicious aforethoughts.

2011 G. D. Bouton CorelDRAW X5 xiv. 425 Any content you have in the columns and rows is lost, so do this with aforethought!

1472–3 Rolls of Parl.: Edward IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1472 1st Roll §39. m. 17 Robert Farnell..of malice afore thought..lay in a wayte to slee and murther the said Richard Williamson.

1628 E. Coke 3rd Pt. Inst. Lawes Eng. 47 With malice aforethought.

1745 Just, Genuine, & Impartial Hist. Sea-fight in Mediterranean 231 The Law..has happily made a Distinction between such Actions as are accidental, and those that are done with Malice afore-thought.

1776 Parl. Reg. 1775–80 III. 475 Has it been downright treachery afore-thought, to lead their unsuspecting country, step by step, into an irreconcileable civil war?

1788 Eaton Chron. (Cheshire) No. 9. 68 To frighten to death,..he, in all probability, had it in aforethought malice, to kill ten, twenty, fifty, or perhaps a hundred, of the quiet and well-disposed inhabitants of this ancient and loyal city of Chester.

1820 Trial R. M. Goodwin 128 There is a homicide which is neither aforethought nor voluntary, as if a man kill another by misadventure or accident.

1824 H. Salvin tr. F. Schiller Mary Stuart ii. i. 95 No one will surmize The aforethought purpose.

1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes i. 43 Sheer falsehood, idle fables, allegory aforethought.

1890 J. B. Bury Nemean Odes Pindar 135/1 Pindar expresses that the conflict was casual, not aforethought.

1949 E. Goudge Gentian Hill i. iii. 44 He would never stick pins of sarcasm into you of aforethought malice, or defraud you of the smallest iota of what he thought was yours.

1978 A. Kenny Freewill & Responsibility iii. 56 After Hyam it is not clear that anything less than the direct intention to kill or to put life in danger suffices for malice aforethought in murder.

2008 D. Lehane Given Day iii. 96 Another shrug,..old George Strivakis not wanting to commit to the slightest evidence of knowledge aforethought.