> as lemmas

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) vi. xxxvi. 154 Hiene ofsmorode Ambogestes.., & hiene siþþan mid rapum [L. laqueo] be þæm sweoran up aheng, gelicost þæm þe he hiene self unwitende hæfde awierged.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 9212 An rop me dude aboute is nekke, he suor honge he ssolde.

c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 2902 (MED) Þanne aboute ys nekke þay caste a rop ful harde y-wounde.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 16501 A rape he gatt al priueli,..þer-wit him-self he hang.

a1450 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i. l. 10010 (MED) Þer ostages ilkon he heng Heye on galewes wyþ rop & streng.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) xi. 281 I promyse..to lende you a rope, yf ye have nede of it.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1897–1973) 22 (MED) I shall hang the..with this rope.

1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 2450 I think to se thy craig gar ane raip crack.

a1585 A. Montgomerie Flyting with Polwart (Tullibardine) in Poems (2000) I. 142 Thow will rax in ane raip or þe end of the ȝeir.

1599 J. Minsheu Pleasant Dialogues Spanish & Eng. 68 in R. Percyvall & J. Minsheu Spanish Gram. A rope of a hanged man.

a1649 W. Drummond Hist. James V in Wks. (1711) 112 Because they could not agree among themselves about those who should stretch the Ropes,..they escaped all the Danger.

1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon i. iii. 127 An old man..told me this story,..being one of those set apart for the Rope.

1712 J. Arbuthnot John Bull Still in Senses iii. 14 When these Wretches had the Ropes about their Necks.

1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 584 All had long suppos'd him dead, By cold submersion, razor, rope, or lead.

1857 G. Borrow Romany Rye II. x. 142 He used to say, that they were fools, who did not always manage to keep the rope below their shoulders.

1899 W. Besant Orange Girl ii. ix. 227 I feel..as if the rope was already round my neck.

1934 H. N. Rose Thes. Slang 18/1 Jim got a rope this morning.

1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 98/2 Rope, hanging.

1935 J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 7 Rope, take a, to hang oneself, to commit suicide.

1976 Leicester Mercury 14 Oct. 4/4 The complete disregard for law and order which is so prevalent today is the direct result of the policies..which resulted in the cane being abolished for disobedient schoolboys, the birch for thugs and the rope for murderers.

2006 Independent 30 Dec. 3/1 That last walk to the scaffold—that crack of the neck at the end of a rope.