c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) viii. 67 With his wyf Eue..he gatt Seth; of whiche tribe, þat is to seye, kynrede, Ihesu Crist was born.

1617 R. Winwood Let. 29 July in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 102 The howse of Austria for many yeares together interchangebly hath maried in their owne trybe.

1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. Tribe, a kindred.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 23 And dwell Long time in peace by Families and Tribes Under paternal rule. View more context for this quotation

1719 I. Watts Jesus shall Reign (hymn) vii In Him the tribes of Adam boast More blessings than their father lost.

1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice I. i. vi. 48 To what tribe of Camerons do you belong?

1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. i. xvii. 96 Þe toun of rome was dividit..in sindri partis, and euery ane of þir partis war callit tribis, be thirllage of tribute þat þai aucht to pay to þe king..Þir tribus pertenit na thing to þe distribucioun and nowmer of centuries.

1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccccxij Themperor..abrogateth all the tribes, & restoreth the same state of the common weale.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. i. xliii. 31 b Having divided the citie into foure Wards, according to the quarters and hils; those parts which were inhabited, he [Servius Tullius] called Tribes, of the word Tribute (as I suppose).

1611 B. Jonson Catiline ii. sig. D3 I ha' bene writing all this night..vnto all the Tribes, And Centuries, for their voyces, to helpe Catiline, In his election. View more context for this quotation

1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 994/1 The three ancient Romulian tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres,..to which the patricians alone belonged, must be distinguished from the thirty plebeian tribes of Servius Tullius.

1902 W. M. Ramsay in Expositor Jan. 25 Citizenship necessarily implied membership of one of the tribes of which the city was composed.

1697 J. Potter Archæologiæ Græcæ I. i. ix. 47 Cecrops,..divided them [sc. the Athenians] into Four ϕυλαί, or Tribes; each Tribe, he subdivided into three Parts.

1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 990/2 In the earliest times of Greek history mention is made of people being divided into tribes and clans.

1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 991/2 Of the Dorian race there were originally three tribes.

1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 993/1 [At Athens] the Tribes or Phylae were divided..each into three ϕρατρίαι (a term equivalent to fraternities).

1842 W. Smith Dict. Greek & Rom. Antiq. 993/2 Solon..abolished the old tribes, and created ten new ones, according to a geographical division of Attica.

1834 Encycl. Brit. X. 306/1 After..1270, it [Galway] became the residence of a number of enterprising settlers... Of these settlers, the principal families, fourteen in number, are still known by the name of the Tribes of Galway... These families became so closely connected by intermarriages, that dispensations are frequently requisite for the canonical legality of marriages among them at present.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 10 Oct. 2/1 A day at least must be given to Galway—the ‘City of the Tribes’.

1693 N. Tate tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires xv. 304 From straggling Mountainers, for Publick Good, To Rank in Tribes and quit the Salvage Wood.

1785 W. Cowper Task v. 222 When man was multiplied and spread abroad In tribes and clans.

1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1869) II. xlii. 554 The nation was divided into two powerful and hostile tribes.

1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. iv. 158 Now they began to divide the Country [sc. Bermudas] into Tribes, and the Tribes into shares.

1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets cvii. sig. G3 Ile liue in this poore rime, While he insults ore dull and speachlesse tribes . View more context for this quotation

a1684 Earl of Roscommon Prol. to Duke of York at Edinb. 2 Folly and vice are easy to describe, The common subjects of our scribbling tribe.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 529. ¶6 There is another Tribe of Persons who are Retainers to the Learned World... I mean the Players or Actors of both Sexes.

1719–20 J. Swift Let. to Young Gentleman (1721) 7 Professors in most Arts and Sciences, are generally the worst qualified to explain their Meanings to those who are not of their Tribe.

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France ii, in Wks. (1808) VIII. 218 The tribe of vulgar politicians are the lowest of our species.

1843 J. Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 18 Dr. Waagen is a most favourable specimen of the tribe of critics.

1850 J. H. Newman Lect. Diffic. Anglicans (1891) I. i. xii. 388 Perish sooner a whole tribe of Cranmers, Ridleys, Latimers, and Jewels!

a1637 B. Jonson Under-woods xlvii. (title) in Wks. (1640) III An Epistle answering to one that asked to be Sealed of the Tribe of Ben.

a1637 B. Jonson Under-woods lxv. 78 in Wks. (1640) III Now stand, and then Sir, you are Sealed of the Tribe of Ben.

1911 Sir A. W. Ward in Encycl. Brit. XV. 505/1 At the festive meetings where he ruled the roast among the younger authors whose pride it was to be ‘sealed of the tribe of Ben’.

1914 L. E. Jackson & C. R. Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 85 Tribe, used principally by yeggs and begging bums, though current, too, amongst grafters who operate in cliques. A gang; a class.

1955 D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. No. 24. 83 In general, [pickpocketing] mobs are also known as tribes.

1968 Guardian 29 Apr. 7/5 The fifteen hundred ‘Tribes’ of San Francisco..beg their food and sleep where they can.

1973 R. C. Dennis Sweat of Fear vii. 44 A room with wall-to-wall mattresses. Sprawled about were a half-dozen members of the tribe.

1640 Parkinson (title) Theatrum Botanicum: the Theater of Plants..Distributed into sundry Classes or Tribes, for the more easie knowledge of the many Herbes [etc.].

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 279 O flours..Who now shall reare ye to the Sun, or ranke Your Tribes ..? View more context for this quotation

1682 N. Grew Idea Philos. Hist. Plants 2 in Anat. Plants We commonly say, Centaurium Majus & Minus, Chelidonium Majus & Minus,..which yet are distinct Species, and of very different Tribes.

1766 Compl. Farmer at Vegetable Vegetables, according to the analyses made of them by chemistry, are distinguishable into two grand tribes, the acid and the alkaline.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 256 This tribe of the cat kind with spotted skins and a long tail.

1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds v A tribe of birds whose habit is to unite in flocks.

1880 A. Gray Struct. Bot. ix. §1. 326 Tribe has been for a generation or two..established in both kingdoms, as a grade inferior to order and superior to genus.

1731 in 10th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1885) App. i. 269 The slimy tribe of Snails and Worms.

1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §87 The whole tribe of chronical diseases.

1776 G. Campbell Philos. of Rhetoric I. i. v. 136 Under it I include these three tribes; experience, analogy and testimony.

1822 J. M. Good Study Med. I. 514 The same tribe of medicines will generally be found useful in the third variety.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 678 It is..a member of the harrow tribe of implements.

1893 P. White Hist. Clare 12 He must have used..the tribe-books then in existence.

1864 J. Bryce Holy Rom. Empire v. 86 The first barbarian kings had been tribe-chiefs.

1873 J. Bryce Holy Rom. Empire (ed. 4) v. 441 The German kingdom..was then passing from primitive tribe-chieftainship into a feudal monarchy.

1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 248 The tribe-land, in early times, was probably divided into local districts corresponding with the Centuries of the tribe.

1899 S. Baring-Gould Bk. of West II. 102 The old tribeland or principality of Gallewick was reduced in the Middle Ages to a Manor.

1864 J. Bryce Holy Rom. Empire iv. 51 The five or six great tribes or tribe-leagues which composed the German nation.

1859 R. F. Burton in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 29 90 If he suspect that it belongs to a fellow tribeman.

1884 W. Wright Empire of Hittites 129 The scratchy tribe-marks of the Bedawin.

1886 C. R. Conder Syrian Stone-lore (1896) ix. 323 (note) The tribe-names of Arabia may be best explained by the early linguistic condition in which the abstract and the comparative were unknown.

1876 tr. Keil & Delitzsch's Ezekiel II. 384 Every tribe-territory shall stretch from the Jordan to the Mediterranean.

1746 P. Francis tr. Horace in P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Epistles i. xiii. 17 A Tribe-invited Guest Carries his Cap and Slippers to a Feast.