c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 302 Not of leesyng of worldliche worship ne worldliche vauntage,..but of lesyng of vertues.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 8015 O þam þou sal haue gret vantage, Bath to þe and to þi barnage.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 508/1 Vauntage, (K., or avauntage), profectus, proventus.

1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) x. l. 221 This wantage was, the Scottis thaim dantyt swa, Nayn Inglisman durst fra his feris ga.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. MMMiii Repute it for your singlar vauntage & wynnyng to be exercised & tossed in diuerse temptacions.

a1555 J. Hooper in M. Coverdale Certain Lett. Martyrs (1564) 141 Such fleshe as..had great vauntage by hys word, are become his very enemies.

1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 72 I receyued two seuerall letters from you,..Out of which..I reaped double commoditie and vauntage.

1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. i. i. 72 What vantage haue you now of all that is said of Peters ship to countenance Rome?

1645 Arraignm. Persecution 23 Shall we that have received vantage by their rejection, thus recompence them with tyranny?

1846 W. S. Landor Citation & Exam. Shakespere in Wks. II. 266 It would give..the neighbourhood much vantage, to see these two fellows good men.]

c1430 Freemasonry (1840) 149 The mayster schal not, for no vantage, Make no prentes that ys outrage.

c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 43 Judas was wo, þat he had noȝt þat vauntage of þo xxx. pens þat was þe tythe of þe iij. hundreth pens.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. xxv. f. xxxvj^v Then at my commynge shulde I have receaved my money with vauntage.

1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 312^v He became a master in makynge cardes for the sea, whereby he had great vantage.

1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 16^v If one peny vauntage be therin to saue, of Coastman or Fleming now looke it to haue.

a1470 Dives & Pauper (1496) vii. xxi. 308/2 That he sholde besydes his salarye take annuell or trentalle, or ony suche other, that they calle vantages.

1481 MS. at St. Nich. Bristol in Clerk's Book of 1549 (Bradshaw Soc.) 70 Hit was of old vsage that the vantage of weddyngges was longgynge to the Clerke.

a1561 G. Cavendish Metrical Visions (1980) 690 Ffirst in the prevye councell was my foundacion And cheafe secretory, with all vauntages and ffees.

1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. Dict. 393 When a White-page or more happens in a Sheet, the Compositer calls that Vantage: So does the Press-man, when a Form of one Pull comes to the Press.

1888 C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 151 Vantage, an old synonym for the modern one of ‘fat’.]

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum xiv. lii. (Tollem. MS.) Therfore þese places of heremites hauen moche noye and trauayll; neþeles it haþ a vauntage [L. plurimum] of commodite and reste.

1529 T. More Supplyc. Soulys ii. f. xxxvii^v And yet haue we for the vauntage.., the boke of the kyngys, the wordis of the prophete zachary [etc.].

1538 in E. Hobhouse Church-wardens' Accts. (1890) 43 R. Phelyppes for the vantage of bredde, xxiid.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Le trezain du pain, vantage of bread; the thirteenth loafe giuen by Bakers vnto the dozen.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. iii. 84 Yes, [there are] a dozen [such women], and as many to the vantage, as would store the world they played for. View more context for this quotation

1617 S. Collins Epphata to F. T. ii. ix. 346 Supererogation there is none, where first all is not done that ought to be done, and then a vantage too, or surplus ouer.

1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre iv. xiii. 191 The Popes Legate and Robert Earl of Artois..would make no bargain except Alexandria..were also cast in for vantage, to make the conditions down-weight.

1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Vantage, that which is given over and above just Weight and Measure; Overplus.

1594 in W. Greenwell Wills & Inventories Registry Durham (1860) II. 244 xxj stirkes of yeare old and vantage, 18^l., x stirkes, of two yeares ould and vantage, 16^l.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 12 But Venus ascendeth up to her station in fifteene daies and the vantage.

a1625 J. Fletcher Pilgrim i. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Fffff4/1 She is fifteen, with the vantage, And if she be not ready now for mannage——.

a1656 J. Ussher Ann. World (1658) 251 Of a huge stature, and a mind answerable thereunto, for it is said, that he was five cubids high, and vantage.

1708 London Gaz. No. 4472/4 Stoln or Stray'd.., a brown bay Gelding,..14 hands and the vantage high.

1711 London Gaz. No. 4875/4 A large kindly black Mare,..two Years old, with the Vantage.

1754 J. Shebbeare Marriage Act I. i. 5 In plain English, she had seen One and thirty Birth-days, and a 'Vantage as they say in the West of England.

1601 in J. Harland House & Farm Accts. Shuttleworths (1856) I. 124 A litle younge styre of towe yeres old vantage.

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. xvii. 18 The archers..haue noo vauntage of hym nor of his company.

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 3 The cause why they were thus shauen before, was, for that their enemies should not haue the vauntage to take them by the heares of the head while they were fighting.

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 4 They which by might could haue vauntage ouer others, had nothing to doe with..quiet qualities.

1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 215 Oft thay meit [in battle]: oft thay parte w^t lytle vantage.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. i. xxvii. 20 When hee thought hee had gained vantage ynough, hee mounted up the hill with all his companies.

a1633 Visct. Falkland Hist. Edward II (1680) 117 Knowing the weakness, he esteem'd his vantage in suffering them to land.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 27 A Castle, strong, and of white chalky stone, its Ordnance planted high to play in Mounts vpon the vantage.

1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc vii. 345 The exasperate knight..up the steps advanced, Like one who disregarded in his strength The enemy's vantage.

1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas II. 160 Though close hedged in by the foe, The vantage hath been ours.

1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xviii. 156 The bishop found that he would thus lose his expected vantage.

1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables ii. 31 It was already quite dark, but not so dark that Mrs Rachel could not see them from her window vantage.

1969 M. Bragg Hired Man viii. 83 There were halloes every few minutes and the men themselves became hunters, climbing the heights in anticipation of a vantage which would give them a total view and enable them to race down when the kill was near.

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cxcix 97/1 The englisshemen had the vauntage of the hyll, and helde themselfe so cloose together that none coude entre into them.

1569 R. Grafton Chron. II. 242 Assoone as the king and his Marshalles had ordered hys battayle, he drewe vp the sayles and came with a quarter winde to haue the vauntage of the sonne.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §599 It hath been anciently practised to burne Heath, and Ling, and Sedge, with the vantage of the Wind, upon the Ground.

1806 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel (ed. 4) v. xviii. 152 To each knight their care assigned Like vantage of the sun and wind.

1828 W. Scott Fair Maid of Perth v, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 116 Thou wilt have better access to drive them back, having the vantage of the house.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xvi. 621 James..consented to retreat till he should reach some spot where he might have the vantage of ground.

?1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 209 The preistes handes ith mustardpott the knave throwe at ninch Has some dise of vauntadge myne oth I durst take.

1805–6 H. F. Cary tr. Dante Inferno xvi. 24 Naked champions..Are wont, intent, to watch their place of hold And vantage, ere in closer strife they meet.

1832 T. De Quincey Cæsars in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Dec. 949/2 This adoption would have been applied..as a station of vantage for introducing him to the public favour.

1860 J. L. Motley Hist. Netherlands (1868) II. xvii. 347 It was unfortunate that the possession of Sluys had given Alexander such a point of vantage.

1490 Caxton's Blanchardyn & Eglantine (1962) liii. 204 They chased Subyon that was horsed at a vauntage better than they were.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxxii. 654 Petrius..cowde well fle and returne at a vauntage, and well fight with his enmyes.

1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VIII f. cxvii Then they issued out boldly and shot coragiously as men that shot for a vauntage.

a1568 in A. Scott's Poems (E.E.T.S.) 44 Thair is nocht ane winche þat I se Sall win ane wantage of me.

1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 268 b Hereupon he doth conclude as it were at a vauntage that the doctrine of these men is not onely unprofitable, but also pestiferous.

1615 W. Lawson Country Housewifes Garden (1626) 32 Wee may well assure our selues, (as in all other Arts, so in this) there is a vantage and dexterity, by skill.

1642 D. Rogers Naaman 263 Naaman seemed humble, when he stood at Elisha his doore, but it was for a vantage.

?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda i. ii I, watch you vauntages? Thine be it then.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) i. iii. 25 When shall we heare from him. Pisanio. Be assur'd Madam, With his next vantage . View more context for this quotation

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) ii. iii. 43 You are most bound to'th'King, Who let's go by no vantages, that may Preferre you to his daughter. View more context for this quotation

c1510 Gesta Romanorum (de Worde) A ij At the last she had hym at a vauntage agayne, ande was afore hym.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. (1586) iii. 156 b You haue taken me at a vauntage.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. vii. sig. Ii7^v Me seely wretch she so at vauntage caught.

1596 J. Harington New Disc. Aiax Prol. sig. B4^v He will take a weake man at the vauntage.

1827 R. Southey Hist. Peninsular War II. 123 In this sort of warfare their loss was generally greater than that of the natives, who on such occasions had them at vantage.

1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 89 Complement of human kind, Having us at vantage still.