> as lemmas

OE Crist III 1230 Þær hy arasade reotað ond beofiað fore frean forhte, swa fule swa gæt, unsyfre folc, anra ne wenað.

c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer Canon's Yeoman's Tale (Ellesmere) (1875) l. 886 For al the world they stynken as a goot Hir sauour is so rammyssh and so hoot.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iii. f. 144^v The Goate is able to engender at seuen monethes olde, being euen as lecherous as a Goate [L. quoniam immodicae libidinis est].

1604 A. Willet Limbo-mastix 35 One may well returne Hieromes words vpon you: You are toward others as blinde as a mole, toward him as sharpe sighted as a goate.

1699 J. Edwards Πολυποικιλος Σοϕια I. ii. 78 He is as sly and crafty as a Fox, as lustful and salacious as a Goat.

?1710 J. B. Amoret 8 Frolicks in Spring of Youth are things of nought; Tis true, she's wanton as a Goat, But Love, fierce Love, compells her to it.

1777 H. Man Trifler III. lii. 144 Don't you see, proceed the impostors, that he looks as sleek as a young roe—that he frisks about like a ram—and that he is as lascivious as a goat?

1822 Morning Chron. 2 Oct. 3/1 If the President of the United States of America were to be as lascivious as a goat, his propensities could not by possibility influence the nation.

1847 Countess of Blessington Marmaduke Herbert 93 She who knew every path, every step about the cottage, and was as sure-footed as a goat.

1948 C. Rice Big Midget Murders vi. 51 Ned only met this girl yesterday, and when I ran into him at the Casino last night, he was drunk as a goat.

1997 New Yorker 17 Feb. 52/3 He is randy as a goat and pathetic as a child; incontinently garrulous; impossibly selfish.

2002 New Statesman (Nexis) 6 May Our heroine..has a child but no husband, a lodger who is as horny as a goat, a sumptuous abode, and scant friends.

1841 Addr. to Citizens of Philadelphia Establishing Asylum 9 He's in a silly weeping or at playing the goat.

1879 H. Hartigan Stray Leaves 2nd Ser. i. 21 Don't be actin' the goat like ould Larry Healey!

1888 R. Kipling Under Deodars (1890) 91 Generally, as he explained, ‘playing the giddy garden goat all round’.

1914 E. Pugh Cockney at Home 190 I'd orate myself, but, as you know, this don't happen to be my day for actin' the silly goat.

1922 L. J. Vance Linda Lee Incorporated iv. 22 Where was the sense in holding on this tack, ignoring Linda, making her miserable,..and meantime playing the silly goat, all for the sake of a few hours of facile excitement?

1983 C. James Poem of Year xi. 73 We're told the Queen has carpeted Andrew And warned him not to act the giddy goat.

2005 Independent 3 Sept. 42/5 They are the geographical equivalent of Carnival..we can play the fool and act the goat there.

1846 Weekly Raleigh Reg. & N. Carolina Gaz. 17 Feb. I was placed astride of a rail, which I was told was the Odd Fellows' Goat, and that I never could become an Odd Fellow until I had first learned to ride the Goat. In this barbarous manner I was carried three times around the room and finally stopped in front of the Warden's chair.]

1847 Ark Sept. 283/1 How many are in the habit of saying to a person who has been elected, ‘Well, I understand you are going to ride the goat!’ or some similar expression?

1848 Signet & Mirror May 22 The apology of one who belongs not to the mystic Order, who never rode the Goat, and yet undertakes to write about Masonry.

1892 Railroad Trainmen's Jrnl. Apr. 282/2 We are initiating candidates every night. The first meeting night in January we had six that rode the goat.

1901 Delta of Sigma Nu Nov. 110 Before we were through having the new men ride the goat, we were surprised to have two men from Gamma Epsilon come in.

1933 Washington Post 8 Aug. 7/1 Vice President Garner will ‘ride the goat’ tonight when he takes the initiatory degree in the Uvalde Lodge of Odd Fellows.

1999 Sunday Times (Nexis) 23 May [The author] rang..to say that..she must quash my speculation..that..she has ‘ridden the goat’ and become a member of the Orange Order.

1943 Cosmopolitan Feb. 14/1 A crucial decision in the third inning of the third game shaped up the billy-goat horns for Mac, himself.]

1944 N.Y. Times 1 Oct. (Sports section) s2/2 He [sc. Babe Ruth] wore the goat's horns in 1942 and was the superstar of 1943.

1963 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 28 Oct. b3/4 Two Redskin heroes..wore goats' horns Sunday as Washington went down to its fourth straight defeat.

1991 B. M. Nash & A. Zullo Basketball Hall of Shame 193 With a one-point edge, Bradley tried to dribble out the clock—and almost went home wearing the goat horns.

2011 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 16 Oct. (Sports section) c5 McNamara and his pitching staff..deserve a good chunk of the blame. But..only one man can wear the goat horns, and, for that, the baseball gods chose Billy Bucks.