> as lemmas

1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur ii. viii. 84 Thou shalt stryke a stroke most dolorous that euer man stroke.

c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 3 He ouercam hunger in desert,..he strak ageyn veyn glorie vp on þe temple.

a1513 W. Dunbar Ballat Passioun in Poems (1998) I. 37 Methocht Compassioun, wod of feiris, Than straik at me with mony astound.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Richard III f. xxviij^v It strake to her harte, like the sharpe darte of death.

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. xxii. sig. Vu8 And hate, & spare not, for your worst blow is striken.

1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 ii. iii. 6 Smile gentle heauens or strike vngentle death.

1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 112 It pleas'd the King his maister Very late to strike at me vpon his misconstruction. View more context for this quotation

1642 King Charles I Answer to Printed Bk. 29 The Regall Power was never before this time strucken at.

1645 W. Jenkyn Stil-destroyer Ep. Ded. sig. A3 The sin I here strike at, is very improperly called self-seeking.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1680 (1955) IV. 236 The Parliament now assembled, & which struck at the Succession of the Duke of York.

a1720 W. Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iv. 283 This book struck chiefly against the Quakers.

1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 20 When first ambition struck at regal power.

1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Persians in tr. Æschylus Tragedies 474 Thy words strike deep, and wound the parent's breast.

1829 J. Mackintosh Speech 1 June in Hansard 1601 A measure which would..strike the death-blow to whatever attempts might be made on the part of other states.

1845 J. R. McCulloch Treat. Taxation iii. ii. 432 It obviously strikes at the very foundation of the principle of accumulation.

1892 Sat. Rev. 14 May 581/2 The Revolution..began to strike at Church and King.

1908 R. Bagot Anthony Cuthbert xxiii. 298 Every fresh proof of Anthony's love for her struck like a knife into her heart.