> as lemmas

1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. lxviii. 769 They knew not what it was to liue at discretion [Fr. viure a discretion], much lesse to go a foraging, to rob, steale, beate or murder, as men do now a daies.

1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. App. 181 Suffering the Spanyards..to enter by force into the Town of Antuerpe, and there to continue six weeks, living at discretion at the poore Bourgers charge.

1683 J. Bulteel tr. F. E. de Mézeray Gen. Chronol. Hist. France 400 Paris beheld her self surrounded with Soldiers who lived at Discretion.

1720 D. Defoe Mem. Cavalier 200 We reckoned our selves in an Enemy's Country, and had lived a little at large, or at Discretion, as 'tis called abroad.

1779 Farmer's Mag. Oct. 295 The menaces of an insolent soldiery, who come to live at discretion in a house exposed to the numberless extortions of the treasury.

1820 G. A. Otis tr. C. Botta Hist. War Independence U.S.A. I. v. 420 The idea was insupportable, that the soldiers should live at discretion, in a country it was desired to gain and conciliate.