> as lemmas

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 5055 (MED) His Ape..hadde gadred al aboute Of stickes..a route And leide hem redy to his hond.

c1450 (a1425) Metrical Paraphr. Old Test. (Selden) 2124 (MED) Hors, scheld, and spere haue þei redy at hend.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 822/2 Redy at hande, auant la mayn.

1582 Bible (Rheims) 2 Cor. x. 16 To preach the gospel, not to glory in another man's rule, in those things that are made ready to our hand.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. xxvii. xii. 287 There is not an hearb or plant that they be more carefull..to haue alwaies ready at hand, than Polygonon.

1664 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders (new ed.) i. sig. e8 The Grecians the readiest at hand had their choice.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Table Systems of Numbers, calculated to be ready at Hand for the expediting Astronomical, Geometrical, &c. Operations.

1781 S. Johnson Pope in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets VII. 41 All the gay varieties of diction were ready at his hand.

1844 C. Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit xlviii. 550 No credit is to be got out of such a way of life as that, where everything agreeable would be ready to one's hand.

1869 Harper's Mag. Feb. 371/2 The pardonable feminine deception which keeps ready to hand a piece of crochet-work or bead-ornamentation to be produced the moment a tap at the door announces a visitor.

1891 Law Times 90 315/2 The chief guide which both courts found ready to their hands.

1924 G. E. Hale Depths of Universe iii. 81 The means for testing the vortex hypothesis of electromagnetic fields in sun-spots lay ready at hand.

1950 ‘C. S. Forester’ Mr. Midshipman Hornblower ii. 62 Three pistols would not be too many against twelve desperate men who had makeshift weapons ready to hand, belaying pins and the like.

1992 M. Medved Hollywood vs. Amer. v. xvi. 267 When it comes to the perils of pessimism..Hollywood's facile defenders have a final glib answer ready to hand.