1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. i. 220 An old Agonel [L. antiquo agonali].

1695 E. Gibson tr. W. Camden Britannia 58 We find it in an ancient Agonal [L. antiquo agonali legitur].

1735 W. O. tr. W. Camden Britannia II. 146 In an old agonal, or history of his passion [L. ut in antiquo eius agone habetur], we are told that the citizens of Verulam caused an account of his suffering to be expressed on a marble.

1881 G. G. Scott Ess. Hist. Eng. Church Archit. iii. 97/1 The authority of an ancient Agonal, or history of the passion of our saint.

1981 D. R. Kelley Beginning of Ideol. iii. 121 In some ways the 'agonals' of the sixteenth century resembled more the de viris illustribus of classical inscription than the vitae sanctorum of the medieval church.

1770 tr. M.-A. du Bocage Lett. II. 38 Sea-fights are now exhibited in the agonal circus [Fr. du cirque agonal] called the square of Navonne.

1838 Fraser's Mag. Nov. 516 Come to us Our saviour, and the patron of our games: And with thee come our Agonal deities all.

1916 Amer. Jrnl. Archaeol. 20 53 Between 226 and 216 b.c., Larymna was a Boeotian town, as is shown from the agonal inscription of Lebadeia.

2004 D. Hawhee Bodily Arts i. 22 Olympic ethos invokes the Olympic Games, the primary and most widely regarded of agonal scenes in Greece.

1896 T. Common tr. F. Nietzsche Wks. XI. 224 The philosophers are the décadents of Grecianism, the counter-movement against ancient, noble taste (against the agonal instinct, against the polis).

1933 Classical Philol. 28 320 It is well enough to point out the presence of chivalric standards in early Greek society and to speak of the spirit of contest and competition, but it is too much to make the adjective, agonal, a magic key to unlock all secrets of the period.

1977 R. R. Mueller Festival & Fiction in Heinrich Wittenwiler's Ring iii. 73 Courtship has always entailed an agonal strain, a compounded sequence of trials and tests.

1994 T. Stoianovich Balkan Worlds vi. 237 One ought to distinguish..between work that is agonal or competitive and work as an involuntary obligation.

2012 C. S. Jaeger Enchantment xi. 318 A charismatic work of art creates an agonal relationship with the viewer... The viewer enters into a contest with the work of art.

1878 Toledo Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 2 11 Dr. Thorn..thought the white clot had been of long existence... He considered the red clots as agonal, but not so the white ones.

1896 Lancet 15 Aug. 463/1 Agonal or pre-mortal leucocytosis.

1901 Jrnl. Exper. Med. Jan. 344 A condition which, if not due solely to agonal contraction, might at least favor the production of diverticula in the upper part.

1940 ‘M. Innes’ Secret Vanguard ii. 24 I would see him as looking in that agonal second not at anything on the gazebo, and not at the prospect immediately before it.

1990 G. Bear Queen of Angels (1991) i. xiv. 70 Muscular activity before death..and discharge of body fluids (agonal relaxation) besides blood mostly limited by clothing.

2007 N. A. Paradis et al. Cardiac Arrest (ed. 2) xxviii. 528 Investigators reported the presence of gasping or agonal respiration in as many as 55% of witnessed cardiac arrest victims.