> as lemmas

a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 15933 A voyde vessel, pype, or tonne,..maketh outward a gret soun, Mor than to-forn, whan yt was ful.]

1547 W. Baldwin Treat. Morall Phylos. sig. Q.iiii As emptye vesselles make the lowdest sounde: so they that haue leaste wyt, are the greatest babblers.

1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. K Emptie vessells haue the highest sounds..and pratling gloriosers, the smallest performaunce of courage.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iv. iv. 64 The empty vessel makes the greatest sound . View more context for this quotation

1711 J. Swift Misc. Prose & Verse 254 I have always observed that your empty Vessels sound loudest.

1761 Gentleman's & London Mag. July 322/2 In so much noise but little sense is found, As empty barrels make the greatest sound.

1850 Macphail's Edinb. Eccl. Jrnl. May 282 We all know the simile that the deepest river runs the smoothest, and that an empty barrel makes the most noise.

1922 M. E. Hanshew & T. W. Hanshew Riddle of Spinning Wheel 169 And you believe in the adage that ‘empty vessels make the most sound,’ I take it?

1947 S. Bellow Victim iv. 46 He had said something about empty wagons being noisy.

2012 Lincs. Echo (Nexis) 25 Oct. 86 It is often said empty vessels make the most noise which is why Tyson Fury's abuse of David Price should be treated with the contempt it deserves.