1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 351^v There is a ledge of rockes on the southeast parte of the rode.

1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 18 A shoule, a ledge of rockes.

1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie iii. sig. Fff5 We must cross Mount Hermon; a ledge of hills, which..bend directly South.

1658 J. Evelyn tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 13 Break away the ledge of earth.

1699 W. Dampier Voy. & Descr. ii. i. 25 To the North of these Islands lyes a long ledge of Rocks bending like a Bow.

1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World i. 69 A pretty high Ledge of Hills.

1762 W. Falconer Shipwreck ii. 35 This buoyant lumber may sustain you o'er The rocky shelves and ledges to the shore.

1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine (1780) Ledge is also a long ridge of rocks, near the surface of the sea.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Ledge, a compact line of rocks running parallel to the coast, and which is not unfrequent opposite sandy beaches.

1889 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid i, in tr. Virgil in Eng. Verse (ed. 2) 76 Three of the ships on invisible ledges the South winds drave.

1891 ‘S. C. Scrivener’ Our Fields & Cities 31 We have a view of the first principal ‘ledge’ of land above the Fen country.

1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) 109 An unmistakable ledge formation carrying quartz the entire distance.

1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) 262 At the depth it [a mine] has now attained, the ledge matter is larger and richer than at any previous period of its history.

1894 Outing 24 339/2 Up and down the mountains over ledge rock that spread out like stair steps.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 589 A transverse piece, called a ledge nailed across, from which the door derives the name of a ledge-door.

1881 F. Young Every Man his own Mechanic §832. 384 We may look on them [doors] speaking generally as divided into ledge doors and framed doors.

1891 W. M. F. Petrie Tell el Hesy vii. 42 The ledge-handles are very striking and quite unknown elsewhere. They belonged to large vessels with upright sides... The ledge is of various degrees... Sometimes it is very deeply and sharply waved..or else slightly curved,..or merely nicked,..or lastly a plain ledge.., without ornament or hollow.

1949 W. F. Albright Archaeol. Palestine iv. 78 The envelope ledge-handle. This name, given it by P. L. O. Guy, is derived from the fact that the laps of the pushed-up ledge-handle,..are now folded over and fastened down as neatly as though each lap were the flap of an envelope.

1952 V. G. Childe New Light on Most Anc. East (ed. 4) xi. 230 Four occupational layers are superimposed at Ghassul, and some rather suspicious ledge-handles are figured from the site.

1972 Y. Yadin Hazor iii. x. 121 Large and deep bowls with ledge-handles.

a1300 Cursor Mundi 28646 He..leghges [Cotton Galba MS. aledges] for him no for-þi þat he na scrift mai vnderly.

a1300 Cursor Mundi 28679 If þis man..for-sakes penance neuer þe lese, and legges febulnes of flexse.

1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 41 Thou leggist oft Goddis lawe, bot to a false entente.

?a1500 Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.) II. 187 Wher is the barron wher is the knighte for me to leadge the lawe?

c1530 Court of Love 1065 So he hath begon To reson fast, and legge auctorite.

1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer i. f. cccxxxiii [They] shulden sene the same sentence they legen on other, springe out of their sydes, with so many braunches it were impossyble to nombre.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) i. ii. 28 Nay 'tis no matter sir, what he leges in Latine. View more context for this quotation

1867 W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire (Philol. Soc.) 103 Ledge, to throw out suspicions; as, ‘A’ bodie's beginnin' t' ledge it he's nae far fae the brackan’. (2) With the preposition upon, to accuse; as ‘They ledge upon 'im it he cheatit the minister wee the sellan o's coo'.

1556 W. Lauder Compend. Tractate Dewtie of Kyngis sig. C^v For all thare ledgin, of the lawis.

1598 Chaucers Dreame in T. Speght Wks. G. Chaucer f. 359/2 He said it was nothing fitting To void pity his owne legging.

1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 101 Euery boorde ledging ouer other.

1879 R. Jefferies Wild Life 98 It [snow] melts on the south of every furrow leaving a white line where it has ledged on the northern side.

1599 T. Nashe Lenten Stuffe 22 The burdensome detrimentes of our hauen, which euery twelue-month deuoures a Iustice of peace liuing, in weares and banckes to beate off the sand and ouerthwart ledging and fencing it in.

1845 T. N. Talfourd Vacation Rambles I. 239 The road..sometimes pierced through the blasted rock, sometimes ledged along it.