1562 in Evid. Commissioners Univ. Scotl. (1837) IV. App. 152 Our lovitis, principale, sub-principale [etc.]..of our College, within the Universitie of Abirdene.

a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. (1587) 511 In that assemblie was Maister Alexander Anderson subprincipall of Abirdeane, a man more subtill and craftie than either learned or godlie.

1615 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 543/1 Mr Pat. Guthrie subprincipall of the said colledge.

1677 T. Middleton App. Hist. Church Scotl. iii. 25 The Colledge could not be well governed, unless there were a Principal or Subprincipal.

1727 D. Defoe Tour Great Brit. III. ii. v. 183 A Principal or Master, or Head, call it as you please, with a Sub-Principal, which is not usual, who is also a Professor of Philosophy.

1755 E. Chamberlayne Present State Eng. (ed. 38) ii. 16 Eight Masters of Arts, of which, the first was Sub-Principal.

1847 Blackwood's Lady's Mag. June 245 The sub-principals sing and act admirably.

1892 Logansport (Indiana) Daily Reporter 21 June 3/5 Miss Anna Dunn has been made sub-principal in the New West Side school building under Prof. Berry.

1905 A. R. H. Moncrieff Schoolboy Abroad 182 We pitied the poor boarders who..dined in silence, under the severe eye of M. Gicquel, the sub-principal.

1976 B. Eno in Studio Internat. Nov. 279/1 In descending positions of power are the conductor, leader of the orchestra,..section principals, section subprincipals and finally, rank and file members at the bottom.

1984 Washington Post 2 Aug. (Virginia Weekly section) 2/1 The Alexandria resident recently retired from her position as subprincipal of Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax.

1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke Annot. sig. ¶.2^v Subprincipal of principals.

1603 P. Holland in tr. Plutarch Morals Explan. Words Parhypate hypatón,..Subprincipall of principals... c, fa, ut. Parhypate Mesón,..Subprincipall of meanes:.. f, fa, ut.

1825 J. F. Danneley Encycl. Music Sub principal,..an open stop for the organ, of thirty-two, and sixteen feet, made of pewter.

1865 J. Warren Hamilton's Catech. of Organ (ed. 4) xvi. 298 The front pipes, which include the pedal sub-principal, of 32 feet, are of pure English tin.

1907 Musical Times 48 90/1 The Great Bass Sub-Principal of 32 ft. served as a foundation for the Pedal only.

1998 P. Russill in N. Thistlethwaite & G. Webber Cambr. Compan. Organ (2003) xiv. 216 (table) Subprincipal (stopped, wood) 16´.

1842 J. Gwilt Encycl. Archit. Gloss. 1038 Sub-Principals, the same as auxiliary rafters or principal braces.

1877 Salopian Shreds & Patches 21 Nov. 244/1 The timber roofs are constructed with massive scantlings, hammer beam principals, sub principals, purlins, braces, brackets, and spars.

1905 House & Garden Oct. 127/2 This simplest three-lined composition may be enlarged to a five-lined one by insertion of a so-called ‘support’ between the principal and the secondary, and of a ‘sub-principal’ between the principal and the tertiary.

1954 N. Pevsner Essex (Buildings of Eng.) 337 The principals rest on stone brackets, the sub-principals start with figures of angels.

1601 R. Dolman tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. III. 236 Eight other windes, called sub-principall [Fr. souzprincipaux], and which compound their names of their two next collaterall windes,..to wit, North-northeast, North-northwest.

1666 G. Harvey Morbus Anglicus xi. 65 The said purulent vapours crowding into the substances of the principal and sub-principal parts, viz. the Heart, Brain, Spleen, and Liver.

1721 A. Malcolm Treat. Musick ix. 267 In Melody, there may be several subprincipal Subjects, to which the different Parts of that Song may belong.

1916 J. A. Massel Markets for Machinery & Machine Tools in Argentina 45 There are also three ‘subprincipal’ plants in Canal San Fernando, Olivos, and Palermo, and two secondary ones in Victoria and Retiro.

1965 Times 6 Oct. 15/1 One of the sub-principal shepherds had a clean-focused bright and hard tenor that suited the music.

2006 J. Halstead Ruth Gipps iii. 46 He had offered her the opportunity to conduct the Boyd Neel Orchestra (in which he was the sub-principal double-bass).