1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. BBii^v The fourth thynge that is dispraysed in our graundmother Eue, was, that she was curyous.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost i. i. 255 With a childe of our Grandmother Eue, a female. View more context for this quotation

1606 S. Hieron Truths Purchase in Wks. (1620) I. 61 Our grand-mother Heuah.

1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. iii. 366 Satan tempted our grandmother Eve.

1737 in W. Harvard King Charles I Epil. In those prim Times—our Grandmothers of Yore—Preferr'd a Pray'r-book to a Matadore.

1777 Scots Mag. June 326/1 Mankind will do nothing but play at Bo-peep, Our grandmother Eve first began the pursuit.

1814 W. Scott Waverley II. viii. 68 Since the days of our grandmother Eve, the gratification of inordinate curiosity has generally borne its penalty in disappointment.

1894 A. M. Caird Daughters of Danaus lvii. 450 Only I hope a little..that we may be less of a hindrance and an obsession to our granddaughters than our grandmothers have been to us.

1927 Pop. Mech. July 60/2 Where our grandmothers used one or two changes of water, the modern laundry washes in eleven waters, including three complete changes of soap and a number of rinses.

2010 Vanity Fair (Nexis) Aug. I wanted to know all about Eve. ‘Our grandmother Eve?’ asked Abdullah Hejazi, my boyish-looking guide in Old Jidda.

1931 H. Sutcliffe Persons Unknown i. 11 The quieter pendulum-swing of the slim clocks known as ‘grandmothers’.

1971 Ideal Home Apr. 177 The Victorian ‘grandmother’ in the hall, with its plangent strike, went slow.

2014 Blackmore Vale Mag. (Nexis) 7 Mar. 442 The term granddaughter seems to be a clock smaller than 5ft; grandmother over 5ft and over 6ft is a grandfather which can be as high as 8.6 ft plus.

1896 J. E. Panton Gentlewoman's Home xv. 334 In this room, then, I should advise Bartholomew & Fletcher's ‘grandfather’ and ‘grandmother’ chairs.

1908 Country Life in Amer. July 306/2 The best of these were wing-chairs, sometimes called grandmother's chairs.

1988 Which? Guide to Buying Antiques (rev. ed.) 37/1 ‘Grandmother’ spoon-backed ladies' chair without arms.

2001 J. L. Cook Coalescence of Styles ii. 43 The slat-back arm or ‘grandmother’ chair from the French Shore of Nova Scotia..was stylistically influential on Madawaska Settlement examples.

1898 Standard 8 Dec. 12/2 (advt.) Also 6 grandfather and grandmother Clocks in antique oak.

1922 H. S. Barrett A.B.C. Hist. Antique Eng. Furnit. 86 By Grandmother clocks I refer to clocks not exceeding about 5 ft. to 6 ft. in height.

1930 Aberdeen Press & Jrnl. 31 May 8/3 The gift to ex-Constable Jamie was a beautiful grandmother clock.

1998 Daily Tel. 10 July 16/6 The chimes of a pensioner's grandmother clock are at the centre of a dispute with a neighbour.

1608 E. Grimeston tr. J. F. Le Petit Gen. Hist. Netherlands v. 200 Hee..carried..[his son] to Macklyn, to his grand-mother in lawe, the Douager of Bourgongne.

1703 W. Freke Lingua Tersancta iii. 16 Grandmother in Law threatening, shew'd of Popery terrifying.

1869 Daily Cleveland (Ohio) Herald 17 Aug. One was mother, mother in-law, grandmother, grandmother in-law and great-grandmother.

1977 R. Mehta Inside Haveli i. iv. 19 When her mother-in-law was out visiting a sick relative and her grandmother-in-law was asleep..Geeta thought it was safe to cross the courtyard.

2007 Church Times 7 Dec. 14/4 My grandmother-in-law used to say: ‘One fool can ask more question than a thousand sages can ever hope to answer.’

1937 ‘N. Blake’ There's Trouble Brewing i. 30 The children's game called ‘Grandmother's Steps’.

1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited 122 She took hold of her subject in a feminine, flirtatious way... She played ‘grandmother's steps’ with it, getting nearer the real point imperceptibly while one's back was turned, standing rooted when she was observed.

1956 L. McIntosh Oxf. Folly 204 We were playing grandmother's footsteps.

2012 Independent 13 Sept. 50/4 They are allowed 10 minutes to play outside on the grass. Independent of any helpers, they organise a game of grandmother's footsteps.

1764 H. Walpole Let. 5 June in Lett. (1891) IV. 246 The Princess entertained her grace with the joy the Duke of Bedford will have in being a grandfather..; I believe, the grandmotherhood was not forgotten.

1846 T. De Quincey Antigone in Tait's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 111/2 Surely..she will command that reverence from you, by means of her grandmotherhood, which by means of her ethics she might not.

1962 Life 26 Jan. 95 (advt.) Ages of women—a photo-essay on the female sex from wide-eyed girlhood to tender grandmotherhood.

2001 N.Y. Times 10 Feb. a13/1 From girlhood..to grandmotherhood..she seemed the perfect mother.

1806 A. Seward Lett. (1811) VI. 324 The apparent grandmotherism seems now reversed between us.

1998 W. D. Hartt Final Legacies i. 166 Grandmotherism had replaced her childcare needs that had been the major focus of her life.

1857 Chambers's Jrnl. 7 66/1 I could not say how long..Mrs Linwood, as I call her from habit—she having always greatly disliked to be ‘grandmothered’—remained absent.]

1865 Our Young Folks May 309 Mother Goose waddled her serene way over the farm, and bathed herself in the brook, and grandmothered the successive broods without fear or favor.

1903 H. James Better Sort 42 Do you mean by his idea his proposal that I should grandmother his wife?

1923 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 102/1 A frail little lady who had grandmothered a hefty brood of men.

1966 E. H. Jones Margery Fry xv. 203 Agnes was grandmothering two schoolboy evacuees.

2013 Parents (Nexis) 10 Jan. The nurse, who had mothered and grandmothered and taught so very many mothers and babies.

1887 Murray's Mag. Mar. 408 I see a vista of interminable grandmothering before me, and it is all owing, John Lawrence, to you.

1901 R. Kipling Kim xv. 396 When one cannot dance in the festival one must e'en look out of the window, and grandmothering takes all a woman's time.

1929 Daily Express 8 Jan. 8/7 Political power has naturally passed into the hands of people with a passion for grandmothering.

1996 New Idea June 77/1 The New Age granny does not necessarily wish to be actively involved in the grandmothering stakes.