1579 L. Tomson tr. J. Calvin Serm. Epist. S. Paule to Timothie & Titus 105/2 They cast it into the winde, they played with it as with a counter.

?a1600 Tom Thumbe 61 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry (1864) II. 179 Where he for counters, pinns and points, and cherry stones did play.

1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester xx. 143 He that hath first plaid away his Cards demands as many Counters as there are Cards in the hands of the rest.

1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 15. ⁋4 They were marking their game with Counters.

1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vii. viii. 142 Counters..at a Card-Table are used..as Signs substituted for Money.

1874 F. C. Burnand My Time vii. 61 Card-playing..for counters at two-pence a dozen.

1878 H. H. Gibbs Game of Ombre (ed. 2) 8 The Counters should be of various shapes—round, oblong, and long or fish-shaped.

1600 R. Armin Foole vpon Foole sig. C4^v All alone he playd at slide groate, as his manner was, peeces or counters he had none.

1865 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire (new ed.) VIII. lxvii. 299 The mass of the emperor's subjects..were moved as counters by the hands of a central government.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §3. 368 The noblest aims and lives were only counters on her board.

a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Dii Nay offer hym a counter in stede of a peny.

1601 A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 31 A foole beleeueth euery thing, that Copper is Golde, and a Counter an Angell.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. iv. 15 Words are wise mens counters, they do but reckon by them: but they are the mony of fooles.

1689 London Gaz. No. 2498/4 A silver box of Counters stampt with Kings and Queens heads, etc.

1702 C. Mather Magnalia Christi iii. i. iii. 45/1 He sent her..a Brass Counter, a Silver Crown, and a Gold Jacobus.

1796 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) IV. 152 Counters will pay this from the poor in spirit; but from you, my friend, coin was due.

1796 E. Burke Two Lett. Peace Regicide Directory France i. 78 Silver, not as now a sort of counter, but the body of the current coin.

1855 R. Browning Statue & Bust in Men & Women I. 172 The true has no value beyond the sham. As well the counter as coin, I submit.

1868 Daily News 23 Oct. How easy it is to pay fools with the counters of words instead of with the money of thought.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) iv. ii. 135 When Marcus Brutus growes so Couetous, To locke such Rascall Counters from his Friends. View more context for this quotation

1724 J. Swift Let. to Mr. Harding 8 Does Mr. Woods think..we will Sell him a Stone of Wool for a Parcel of his Counters not worth Six-pence.

1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 582 He was robbed indirectly by a new issue of counters, smaller in size and baser in material than any which had yet borne the image and superscription of James.

a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) ii. vii. 63 What, for a Counter, would I do, but good? View more context for this quotation

1664 H. More Apol. in Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 554 Childish squabling about Nut-shells, Counters and Cherry stones.

1682 H. More Lett. on Several Subj. (1694) 32 Stickling to get the most Counters and Cherry-cobs.

1926 A. Huxley Jesting Pilate iv. 284 One at least of my own novels has to be sold under the counter as though it were whiskey.

1945 Evening Standard 20 Dec. Chief goods to ‘go under the counter’ are fully fashioned silk stockings, watches and silk handkerchiefs.

1946 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 50 246/2 There is too much of the ‘under the counter’ method. It is essential that opportunities for such courses should be advertised openly.

1960 H. S. Agar Saving Remnant viii. 204 Aside from under-the-counter help..Arazi had few funds.

1961 H. S. Turner Something Extraordinary ii. 27 Rude verses, under-the-counter pin-ups and obscene novelties.

1969 New Yorker 31 May 78/2 ‘De Sade Illustrated’, another version of the same under-the-counter classic, is also around.

c1386 G. Chaucer Shipman's Tale 213 Vp to hir housbande is this wyf ygon And knokketh at his Countour [v.r. counter] boldely.

1431 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1855) II. 16 Omnia instrumenta et necessaria shopæ meæ ad le meltynghouse et ad countor meum spectantia.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 209/2 Counter, a countyng house, comptoyr.

1736 G. Berkeley Querist: Pt. II (new ed.) §136 Whether it would not be right to build the compters and public treasuries..without wood.

1809 Ann. Reg. 861/1 England is only sensible in her compters.

1798 in T. B. Reed Hist. Old Eng. Letter Foundries (1887) xiv. 293 Great care has been taken to have the Counterpart deeply cut, by which means [the type] will wear much longer.

1876 T. L. De Vinne Invention of Printing iii. 54 This counter-punch is an engraving, in high relief, of the hollow or counter of that interior part of the letter..which does not show black in the printed impression.

1883 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 698/1 The spaces at h and h are the counters, which regulate the distances apart of the stems in a line of type.

1892 A. Oldfield Pract. Man. Typogr. xxii. 163 The stems should be of a good depth down to the shoulder and counter.

1896 T. L. De Vinne in Moxon's Mech. Exerc. Printing 405 The deep cut or counter recommended for punches.

1898 J. Southward Mod. Printing i. 142 The counter is the open space in the face of letters... It is so called because the part corresponding to it in the original punch is not cut by hand, like the rest of the letter, but is hollowed out by a counter punch.

1902 T. L. De Vinne Pract. Typogr. (ed. 2) 15 When the proportions of the letters have been determined, the punch-cutter begins his work by making a counter-punch of steel. The illustration adjoining shows the form of a counter-punch for the letter H of the size of double english. It is an engraving in high relief of the counter or hollow part of the type, that is, of that part which appears white in the printed letter.

1945 J. C. Tarr Printing To-day vi. 61 The counter (or interior area) is struck in by means of a counter-punch.

1893 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. I Counter.., a depressed or perforated block opposing a die or punch.

1917 F. S. Henry Printing for School & Shop xiv. 242 The next step is the making of the counter.

c1325 Coer de L. 60 Whenne they come on mydde the sea..Another schip they countryd thoo.

1813 W. Scott Rokeby iii. x. 116 His eyes..Countered at once a dazzling glance.

c1475 Partenay 1640 Lordys of contre contring thaim again With a wilfull hert full gentilly resceyuyng.

c1475 Partenay 3346 The messingere lefte contred hym again.

c1475 Partenay 3030 Gaffroy cam faste contring the Geaunt then.

a1513 H. Bradshaw Lyfe St. Werburge (1521) i. i. sig. a.vi Fewe of them haue countred..Great nombre of enemyes.

?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth ii. f. 7 Often tymes countryng his ennemyes without drede of peryll.

c1540 (?a1400) Destr. Troy 1191 Duke Nestor anon, nobli arayed, Countres the kyng.

1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 38 With þe erle of Kent þei countred at Medeweie.

c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. I. 207 [Men] myȝt fle fro toun to toun and nevere countre wiþ her enemyes.

1430 J. Lydgate tr. Hist. Troy iii. xxiii As they countre..Eueryche vnhorsed knightly hath his feare.

c1465 Eng. Chron. (Camden) 80 There bothe hostes mette and countred to gedre.

c1650 (a1500) Eger & Grine (Percy) l. 144 in F. J. Furnivall Percy Folio Old Eng. Ballads & Romances (1905) I. 209 To counter on ffoote he was full throe.

1813 W. Scott Bridal of Triermain ii. xx. 85 Blithe at the trumpet let them go, And fairly counter blow for blow.

1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Prol. Old Test. 55 Heere Sire..countrith not Austen, but declareth him ful mychel to symple mennis witt.

c1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 66 Se the profession Of every vyne, and wherin thai myscheve As counter it.

a1649 W. Drummond of Hawthornden Skiamachia in Wks. (1711) 190 The two houses..issued out a declaration..To counter this, the king sent a message..to the lords of his council in Scotland.

a1734 R. North Examen (1740) ii. iv. §31 246 To all which Matters..his Answer countered every Design of the Interrogations.

1840 Whistlebinkie (Sc. Songs) (1890) I. 254 Wha conters him may rue the same.

1884 Earl of Dunraven in 19th Cent. Mar. 426 The resolution..was..countered by an amendment.

1891 J. M. Barrie Little Minister II. xxvi. 191 That's what I say; but Elspeth conters me, of course, and says she,.. ‘Them that has china plates themsels is the maist careful no to break the china plates of others’.

1892 A. Robertson St. Athanasius Prolegomena 19 The ‘eternity’ of the Son was countered by the text, ‘We that live are alway’ (2 Cor. iv. 11).

1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 22 June 494/4 When I quoted, rather aptly, I may say, from Jeremiah..he countered very weakly with a saying of Dean Inge.

1890 Times 12 Dec. 5/6 White moved his K^t to B. 2, which Black countered with R. to K. square.

1891 Sat. Rev. 28 Mar. 394/1 The system by which they were countered and checkmated.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. III. xii. 223 Of course I countered him there with tremendous effect.

1865 Sat. Rev. 9 Dec. 724 We are glad to set down the author of such smart hits as a misanthrope, because it is easier to counter than to parry them.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iii Instead of trying to counter, and leading his enemy.

1885 Sat. Rev. 7 Nov. 600 Lord Randolph Churchill and Mr. Chamberlain have, in the language of an almost lost art, ‘countered’ heavily during the past week.

1889 E. B. Michell Boxing in W. H. Pollock et al. Fencing (Badminton Libr. of Sports & Pastimes) 166 Instead of thus countering on the head the blow may be aimed at the ribs.