1847 Examiner 16 Oct. 658/1 The thousand sufferers who have hoped for safety under the outspread of their mighty wings.

1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh vii. 291 Pushing wide Rich outspreads of the vineyards and the corn.

1895 A. I. McConnochie Deeside (ed. 2) viii. 89 Formerly the haugh..at this point was but a barren out-spread of the Tanner.

1910 E. B. Titchener Text-bk. Psychol. (rev. ed.) §85. 303 We can, perhaps, get the best idea of it by closing the eyes and observing the dark field: here is an outspread of black, or of dark red, but it is an outspread with no definite size or shape, and it lies neither on the eyeballs nor out in space.

1848 R. I. Wilberforce Doctr. Incarnation v. 119 That mighty outspread of the Fourth Empire.

a1850 J. C. Calhoun Wks. (1854) III. 604 The rapid and wide outspread after game, pasturage, or choice spots on which to settle down.

1887 W. Pater Imaginary Portraits iv. 172 In that early fine weather, looking now not southwards, but towards Germany, he seemed to trace the outspread of a faint, not wholly natural, aurora.

1960 C. J. Post Little War Private Post xvi. 175 Men did not get hit or die in a dramatic outspread of clutching hands and arms. They just sank down, crumpled and wilted.

2004 Kuwait Times (Nexis) 22 Feb. The club..is keen on reviving the sport of camel racing in view of the outspread of many other modern sports.

a1618 W. Raleigh Moistened Osier of Hoary Willow in Poems (1892) i. xxiv. 66 So on the lakes of overswelling Po Sails the Venetian; and the Briton so On the outspread ocean.

1695 J. Edwards Disc. conc. Old & New-Test. III. vii. 326 This Expansum is the..Out-spread Firmament.

1743 J. Davidson tr. Virgil Æneid vii. 181 On the outspread skins.

1784 R. Cumberland Carmelite iv. 48 You saw the cherub messenger alight From its descent; with outspread wings it sate, Covering his breast.

1817 N. Amer. Rev. May 8 The simplicity, and outspread grandeur of this gigantick earth.

1894 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 23 238 She gently presses the brow with the palm and out-spread fingers of both hands for an hour or more at a time.

1917 E. Wharton Summer xii. 187 Charity stood gazing at all the outspread whiteness.

1987 Washington Post (Nexis) 1 Mar. d7 It is entirely possible, even likely, that a high-level rascal or two will slip right through the outspread nets of the special prosecutors.

a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) lxxx. 9 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 215 Þi mouth outsprede and .i. it sal fille.

?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 111 (MED) Inflacioun..is feled ofte tymes goynge by al þe body, makynge outespradde [L. excessiuum] þe akþe.

c1460 J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1911) i. 93 (MED) Our mysbeleeve he did first Enlumyne Whan he out-sprad the briht beemys cleere Of Cristes lawe.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xliii. 22 We outsprede oure hend til alien god.

?1542 Newe Treatyse in Thre Parties ii. sig. f.i^v Than yf a man his armes out sprede No more is the lenght of hym, than is the brede.

1581 J. Heywood tr. Seneca Thyestes (new ed.) iii. ii, in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca 10 Trag. f. 30 The deepe, where Ships so wyde full dredfull were To passe, with sayles on eyther syde out spred.

1600 E. Fairfax tr. T. Tasso Godfrey of Bulloigne xiii. lxv. 247 Scorching sunne so hot his beames outspreeds.

1674 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 180 But on the watrie calme His brooding wings the Spirit of God outspred, And vital vertue infus'd, and vital warmth Throughout the fluid Mass.

1745 M. Mendez Henry & Blanche 38 Now sober Evening in her gray-spun Robe Outspreads her Veil, and shadows half the Globe.

1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. i, in Lamia & Other Poems 161 Their plumes immense Rose, one by one, till all outspreaded were.

1885 H. M. Stanley Congo II. xxvi. 6 That white-collared fish eagle out-spreading his wings for flight.

1901 Science 26 Apr. 651/2 In direct contrast, unscientific China outspreads her bulk like some vast insensate vegetal growth.

1988 M. Chabon Myst. Pittsburgh xx. 250 He leaned back against it, out-spreading his arms.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 1492 (MED) For in þe brede of man es contende, Als lang space fra þe lang fynger ende, Of þe right hande, with armes out spredande, Til þe same fynger ende of þe left hande, Als fra þe haterel oboven þe croun, Es sene tyl þe sole of þe fot doun.

a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) iii. 1716 (MED) The noise gan out spreede Touchyng this moordre odious for to heere.

1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 4921 A chyld apperyd in purpyl feyr clad,..In whos clothys sterrys gylt bemys oute sprad.

1558 T. Phaer tr. Virgil Seuen First Bks. Eneidos vii. sig. S.iii^v All her hear had caught a fyer. And crakling flame outspred, and all her garmentes brent at ones.

1609 S. Grahame Anat. Humors 20 The course of by-past time compeares, And Tragick-like out-spreads before my sight.

1786 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 117 The sun that overhangs yon moors, Out-spreading far and wide.

1851 E. S. Wortley Honour to Labour 10 On! the Arena wide outspreads, And a golden largesse of renown shall rain down on worthy heads.

1895 V. Fane Betwixt two Seas (1990) 4 Beyond the golden sunset glow, Outspread the lands I do not know, The seas I have not sailed as yet.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 26 June 2/3 Each young branch, out~spreading in the sun, Reflects in shadow on the sod below.

1925 T. Hardy Human Shows 45 When an inner court outspreads As 'twere History's own asile.

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine iii. 338 Grant the Kings Palace outspread the Temple in greatness.

1970 W. C. Williams Imaginations 355 The alert mind outspreads the dull song, goes any way it can from point to point, brokenly if it must.