> as lemmas

1841 Congress. Globe X. App. 42/3 This extra session of Congress, called in time of peace to take snap judgments on the American people.

1861 N.Y. Tribune in Times 19 Nov. A traveller's snap-judgement formed on the most superficial observation.

1867 John Lillywhite's Cricketers' Compan. (ed. 23) 13 Get some one to give you difficult catches... You will soon be good at snap~catching.

1876 W. Black Madcap Violet xxviii After..a great deal of snap-firing, the skart was at last stretched on the water.

1889 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 255 For snap exposures a different course is necessary.

1894 Amer. Ann. Photogr. 137 The real necessities for snap photography.

1896 Congress. Rec. 27 Feb. 2214/2 When the snap tally was taken, he..went to the clerk.

1898 A. P. Atterbury tr. W. Sombart Socialism & Social Movement in 19th Cent. vi. 137 A snap resolution of a working-men's congress.

1932 ‘N. Shute’ Lonely Road xi. 229 This isn't any snap decision on my part. I've been thinking of it for some time.

1933 Mod. Lang. Notes 48 393 In most cases they reflect, not conclusions drawn from research, but snap judgments based on chance observation and personal likes and dislikes.

1940 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Sept. 12/2 (caption) Charley Gehringer takes a snap throw from Shortstop Dick Bartell.

1954 X. Fielding Hide & Seek v. 67 Unless we were unlucky enough to be held up by a snap Gestapo..check.

1955 New Biol. 18 93 Slow cooling is supposed to cause more damage than rapid cooling since it results in the formation of larger ice crystals, and the use of ‘snap’ or ultra-rapid freezing has been advocated on the grounds that ice crystal formation may be avoided altogether, the system cooling in an amorphous state.

1959 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death takes Wife v. 54 I had to keep this snap appointment.

1959 Punch 27 May 704/3 You have to be constantly on the qui vive if you are not going to risk being behindhand with the timing of the first drop [of hail], or even missing a snap shower altogether.

1960 V. Jenkins Lions Down Under xi. 161 There was no doubt about his speed and capacity for ‘snap-thinking’.

1960 Daily Mail 19 Jan. 5/1 The Breathalyzer, the snap-test machine..for picking out drunken drivers.

1965 Listener 21 Oct. 637/2 The snap opinions in this programme which I have always respected are those of Patrick Campbell.

1973 Times 8 Jan. 3/3 The investigation..will involve snap checks at garages.

1974 ‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Other Story viii. 62 One must make no snap judgement.

1974 R. Hawkey & R. Bingham Wild Card ix. 95 If he builds a cryogenic tank into the spacecraft, it'll rupture on explosion, spray the tissue with liquid oxygen, snap-freeze it, and provide perfect histological specimens for the investigators.

1974 B. A. Newton Trypanosomiasis & Leishmaniasis 277 Annear (1956) described a technique for ‘snap freezing’ Crithidia oncopelti on a ‘peptone plug’.

1974 Socialist Worker 26 Oct. 15/1 2800 teachers in 90 schools staging snap strikes in support of a £15-a-week interim increase.

1976 Alyn & Deeside Observer 10 Dec. 16/3 The information arrives at a time which can allow only for a ‘snap decision’.

1977 Times of Zambia 7 Sept. 2/2 A snap survey of clinics found that medical assistants in the health institutions had not been able to administer prescribed drugs for some time now.