> as lemmas

c1391 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Bodl. 294) Prol. l. 46* (MED) My liege lord..Out of my bot..bad me come in to his barge; And whan I was with him at large, Amonges othre thinges seid He hath this charge upon me leid.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. l. 994 (MED) He..yaf hem charge That thei ne soffre noght at large His wif to go, bot kepe hire stille.

?c1425 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Royal 17 D.vi) (1860) 11 Hye tyme [it] is to..walke at large out of thy prisoun.

a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 703 I woll sle the and ever I may gete the at large!

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cccxxxix. 533 Thare king determyned to departe, and go and lye in garysons, to be at more large.

1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. May 40 Letting their sheepe runne at large.

1603 T. Winter tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Second Day of First Weeke 24 It seemes Proserpina hath some intent, To set at large her furious daughters three.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 213 Left him at large to his own dark designs. View more context for this quotation

1711 R. Steele Spectator No. 154. ⁋2 I always kept Company with those who lived most at large.

1760 Cautions & Advices to Officers of Army 86 During your Suspension you are a Sort of Prisoner at large and do no Duty.

1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iv. 93 Whether appropriated, or left at large because they cannot be appropriated.

1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 353 They felt also that Hannibal was still at large, and it might not be well to drive him to despair.

1930 W. S. Churchill My Early Life xx. 273 I was at large again, hunted but free, in the vast sub-continent of South Africa.

1972 Daily Tel. 2 June 13/7 The outline story of a young girl who finds herself amorally and vaguely at large in Berlin between the wars.

2011 Guardian 29 July 9/1 In Britain, there are more than 2,000 terrapins still at large in waterways in the London area alone.