> as lemmas

c1525 J. Rastell Away Mourning (single sheet) I haue her lost, For all my cost, yet for all that I trowe I haue perchaunce, A fayre ryddaunce, And am quyt of a shrew.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. vii. 78 Portia adiew... Por. A gentle riddance . View more context for this quotation

a1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) ii. 58 Mr Low. They have given thee all the slip. Mrs Low. So a fair riddance!

1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode ii. ii. 30 Loveit. Call him again. Pert. E'ne let him go, a fair riddance.

1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Second 11 We..All Expedients tire, To lash the ling'ring moments into speed; And whirl us (happy riddance!) from ourselves.

1782 E. Blower George Bateman III. 7 In less time than whilst one could cry—‘A good riddance’.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xliv. 438 A good riddance of bad rubbish!.. Get along with you, or I'll have you carried out!

1863 C. Reade Hard Cash xxxii She is turned away—for sauce—and a good riddance of bad rubbish.

1883 A. Thomas Mod. Housewife 35 ‘As soon as his master comes home he shall go.’ ‘A good riddance too,’ she said morosely.

1924 M. Irwin Still she wished for Company xviii. 220 If all they say downstairs is true..it's good riddance to bad foreign rubbish.

1988 S. Rushdie Satanic Verses i. iv. 79 He was glad to have seen the back of his badly behaved colleagues; good riddance to bad rubbish, he thought.

2004 A. Robbins Pledged 31 Caitlin appreciated that her Big Sister didn't say what she was sure the rest of the sisterhood was thinking: good riddance.