> as lemmas

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour ii. iv. sig. Ovi Lete yonge gentilmen haue often times tolde to them, and (as it is vulgarely spoken) layde in their lappes, how [etc.].

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II v. ii. 47 Who are the violets now That strew the greene lap of the new come spring. View more context for this quotation

a1599 E. Spenser Briefe Note Ireland in Wks. (1949) IX. 239 A Countrie of your owne dominion lying hard vnder the lapp of England.

c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) v. 2125 Luld a sleep in pleasures lap.

a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 266 He would..sleepe securely vpon the lap of Gods protection.

1646 in Hamilton Papers (1880) 124 When they finde these wishes throwne in their lap, [they] will be apt enough to turne their sailes another way.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ix. 1041 Flours were the Couch..Earths freshest softest lap . View more context for this quotation

1712 H. Prideaux Direct. Church-wardens (ed. 4) 105 There is in the Lap of Providence an appointed Time yet to come.

1730 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons 215 They pine beneath the brightest skies, In nature's richest lap.

1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the First 13 What numbers once in Fortune's lap high-fed, Sollicit the cold hand of Charity?

1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 10 But winter lingering chills the lap of May.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 30 Nursed in the lap of indolence.

1797 W. Godwin Enquirer ii. xii. 402 Bred up..in the lap of republican freedom.

1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 44 Brought up in the lap of luxury.

1803 R. Hall Wks. (1833) I. 190 Freedom poured into our lap opulence and arts.

1806 A. Duncan Life Nelson 317 A thorough seaman..nursed in the lap of hardship.

1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. iv. v. 217 The current of presents..flowed very naturally, and very copiously, into the lap of the strangers.

1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 90 Madeline asleep in lap of legends old.

1822 Ld. Byron Werner ii. ii. 103 Rash, new to life, and rear'd in luxury's lap.

1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 10 May 1/2 These things, however, lie in the lap of the future.

1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-dog Drummond 23 Perhaps a year—perhaps six months... It is in the lap of the gods.

1965 New Statesman 30 Apr. 674/3 Almost all power lies in the laps of the different Laender [in Germany].

1971 Guardian 27 Feb. 5/5 Lord Justice Davies said it was in the ‘lap of the gods’ what would be the effect on the younger children if they were ordered to go to their mother's home.