> as lemmas

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1963) 2 Kings xix. 35 I mai heeryn..þe voice of men syngeris & of wymmen syngeris.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 2672 Þat ilke lym quar-with þat þai er kend fra wimmen kith.

in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Harl. 642) (1790) 125 The woemen officers for to receave it in the chamber.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. III. v. viii. sig. Pppp.vj/1 There is in the Church an order of women ministers called women-deacons.

1588 T. Kyd tr. T. Tasso Housholders Philos. f. 21 Homer, who..brought Penelope and Circes in y^e number of women weauers.

1621 M. Wroth Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania 451 We were, and are called the true louing women friends, a rare matter (as men say) to bee found amongst vs.

1622 H. Peacham Compl. Gentleman i. 11 Women Doctors (of whom for the most part there is more danger, then of the worst disease it selfe).

a1652 R. Brome Court Begger v. ii. sig. S2^v, in Five New Playes (1653) Women-Actors now grow in request.

1661 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 3) xviii. 233 A Sticklebag..is good..only to make sport for boyes and women-Anglers.

1709 J. Johnson Clergy-man's Vade Mecum: Pt. II 99 Priestesses or women-presidents are not to be constituted in the church.

1771 Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797) III. 226 A parcel of women-relations.

1785 Bk. of Discipline New Eng. Yearly Meeting Soc. of Friends 39 That each monthly meeting choose two or more sober and judicious men friends, and two or more women friends.

1802 C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. County of Peebles 209 [The peat] is taken up by the women wheelers (hurlers)..Two hurlers commonly suffice to spread the peat dug by one man.

1859 E. F. Ellet (title) Women artists.

1869 G. Butler in J. E. G. Butler Woman's Work & Woman's Culture iii. 54 Women teachers are, as a class, suffering from want of adequate salaries.

1878 Harper's Mag. Mar. 602/2 The established physicians shook their heads. They never believed in ‘women doctors’.

1898 Daily News 2 Dec. 5/1 The Guild of Women-Binders.

1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace xi. 63 A strong sex-bias which had persuaded him that women-drivers were capable of any enormity.

1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 147 There are much better ways of enjoying Oxford than fooling round..with the women students.

1971 Guardian 15 Apr. 11/1 The diocese of Hong Kong, the only diocese out of 300 to have stated openly its support for the ordination of women priests.

1981 ‘J. Ross’ Dark Blue & Dangerous iv. 22 Did he have friends? Women friends?

1999 Independent 6 Aug. i. 9/2 Problems faced by women officers who need to wear stab and bullet-resistant protective vests, which are shaped to fit men.

2003 Marie Claire Dec. (Key to Opposite Sex insert between pp. 274–275) 4/2 Women drivers are less likely to have points on their licence than male drivers.