1845 J. J. Hooper Some Adventures Capt. Simon Suggs v. 52 The voice of the ring-master..came distinctly into the street from the circus.

1873 T. Frost Circus Life Pref. 5 The stentorian vocal organs of the proprietor or ring-master of a travelling circus.

1883 Cent. Mag. July 419/2 An aged and tattered negro was the mule's ring-master.

1925 E. Sherson London's Lost Theatres of 19th Cent. iv. 59 His Ringmaster was Widdicomb, who had previously been Ringmaster at a Circus in Vauxhall Gardens.

1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 51 Ringmaster, squadron commander.

1952 L. Bell Inside Fight Game iv. 73 A match maker can be, and often is, the promoter of a boxing show. His license also permits him to officiate as ringmaster.

1972 N.Y. Times 4 June v. 9/6 James Fallon, the manager, and C. L. (Honey) Craven, the ringmaster, both expressed their pleasure with the new surface. ‘The new ring makes things much easier for the rider,’ said Fallon.

2007 Alef Mag. Spring 64 It is hard to believe that it's been ten years since ring-master John Galliano first took command of the fashion circus with his premier collection for Dior.

1905 J. A. Lemcke Reminisc. Indianian 119 Everybody on board,..under the ringmastership of the little old lady with the liverpad, fell to ‘parbuckling’ heavy salt barrels up the steep, slippery river bank.

1966 Economist 22 Oct. 378/2 That they did not do so during last week's conference was due in considerable measure to some masterly ringmastership on the part of the party chairman, Sir Dan Mason.

1969 Daily Tel. 6 Oct. 15/7 Most circuses get by without script-writers but this one had five, doubling up as clowns performing what they had written under the ringmastership of Ian McNaughton.

1995 Irish Times (Nexis) 2 June 17 They reported record offers by both rugby league and a professional rugby union circus under the ringmastership of Rupert Murdoch.

1910 Islington Daily Gaz. 29 Mar. 4/4 The popular equestrian, William R. Albino, Directed and ringmastered the show.

1936 Racine (Wisc.) Jrnl.-News 3 Apr. 4/3 The crowd was highly entertained by the race. Chris Evansen ring-mastered the affair, and it is to him that the crowd should be grateful.

1955 E. Cuneo Life with Fiorello ii. 15 He literally ran the Congress. He ringmastered the Hoover Administration.

1964 New Statesman 17 Apr. 616/1 To bring off this effect, Caligula needs producing as a kind of play-within-itself: a fantastic circus of cruelty ring~mastered by Caligula for a circle of witnesses as sane as he is.

1969 P. West Words for Deaf Daughter iii. 72 Speeding up, you ringmaster him [sc. a budgerigar] through his full repertoire of forward rolls and swift, thudding vaults.

1988 National Geographic May 693/1 (caption) The smallest show on earth might well be the Munich flea circus ringmastered by Hans Mathes, here feeding his troupe.

1998 Express 9 Apr. 11/3 Young Peter's elevation to the Cabinet will be bad enough for his many enemies in Mr Blair's team. The parallel government he will ring-master will make hackles reach for the sky.