> as lemmas

a1505 R. Henryson Bludy Serk l. 88 in Poems (1981) 161 And evir quhill scho wes in quert That was hir a lessoun.

1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Jas i. f. xxvi^v He hathe valeauntly behaued hym selfe in the conflicte, and hathe shewed a lesson of true vertue and of fayth.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. ii. sig. O7^v She woulde giue her a lesson for walking so late, that should [etc.].

1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. ix. 366 Yet doubtlesse their behauiour was a lesson to posteritie.

1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso i. xxxi. 55 He gave order that it should be cut in Marble by Praxiteles, that it might serve everlastingly for a Lesson to wrangling Courtiers.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical ii. 11 Let's Steer for the Court, for that's the Region which will furnish us with the finest Lessons.

1780 C. Reeve Old Eng. Baron (ed. 2) 232 All these, when together, furnish a striking lesson to posterity, of the over-ruling hand of Providence, and the certainty of retribution.

1822 C. Lamb in London Mag. Mar. 284/1 The kangaroos..with those little short fore-puds, looking like a lesson framed by nature to the pickpocket.

1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. I. iii. 94 He [sc. a monitor] showed me a knot in a long handkerchief, and told me I should receive a lesson from that handkerchief every day, with the addition of a fresh knot every time.

1882 J. L. Watson Life R. S. Candlish xiii. 140 His self-denial in the little things of daily life was a constant lesson.

1900 R. J. Drummond Apost. Teaching ii. 77 Christ is their Teacher. He is also their Lesson: not His words only, but His Life.

1940 Eng. Digest Sept. 43 Copford, East Anglia, has a nasty lesson in store for any paratroops who may land there.

2002 R. Gervais & S. Merchant Office: Scripts 1st Ser. Episode 3. 147 Now, let that be a lesson to you. Respect your elders and do not fuck with the big boys.