c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 128 In alle manere cause he sought þe right in skille, To gile no to fraude wild he neuer tille.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Mark x. 19 Do no fraude, worschipe thi fadir and modir.

1570 B. Googe tr. T. Kirchmeyer Popish Kingdome i. f. 7 But safely keepes that he hath long, with frawde and lying got.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 646 To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not. View more context for this quotation

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. vi. 95 They look upon Fraud as a greater Crime than Theft.

1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux II. ii. iii. 51 Fraud has been practised.

1278 Stat. Glouc. 6 Edw. I c. 11 Ou par collusiun ou par fraude pur fere le termer perdre sun terme.

1292 Britton i. ii. §11 Ne nule manere de fraude.]

1590 H. Swinburne Briefe Treat. Test. & Willes iv. f. 151 The condition is reiected, as being made in fraude of mariage.

a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 23 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) The same Statutes..are often..wrested to the fraude of the Subject.

1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon 265/2 Fraud, all deceitful practices in defrauding or endeavouring to defraud another of his known right, by means of some artful device, contrary to the plain rule of common honesty.

1874 Stephen's New Comm. Laws Eng. (ed. 7) II. iii. ii. 268 And shall not have deposited or invested in fraud of his creditors.

c1374 G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr.) i. pr. iv. 9 The iustice Regal hadde whilom demed hem bothe to gon into exil for hir trecheryes and fraudes.

c1440 York Myst. xxxiii. 131 If ȝe feyne slike frawdis.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Di^v Mo than a thousande ways he hath, by his craftly fraudes to deceyue man.

1691 J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues 317 The Pharisees..made great shews of Piety, to cover their Frauds and Rapines.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 126. ⁋4 Declaiming against the frauds of any employment.

1836 J. Gilbert Christian Atonem. iii. 100 The fraud of imputing guilt to a known innocent being.

1866 C. M. Yonge Cameos lxxvi, in Monthly Packet May 401 Most of the Dauphin's followers gloried in their successful fraud and murder.

1678 Act 29 Chas. II c. 3 (title) An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. i. 362 The frauds, naturally consequent upon this provision..produced [etc.].

1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 29 Which prevents the statute of Frauds from being a bar.

1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy Bk. Prop. Law vii. 38 An instance of what is deemed a sufficient fraud to enable equity to relieve.

1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriotaphia: Urne-buriall iv. 57 They had an happy fraud against excessive lamentation, by a common opinion that deep sorrows disturbed their ghosts.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 139 Surprise him first, and with hard Fetters bind; Then all his Frauds will vanish into Wind. View more context for this quotation

1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 597 New from the corse, the scaly frauds diffuse Unsavoury stench of oil.

1782 W. Cowper Progress of Error in Poems 17 Not all..Can..Discern the fraud beneath the specious lure.

1880 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times III. 5 Many persons persisted in believing that his supposed suicide was but another fraud.

1890 L. B. Walford Mischief of Monica i The whole place is a fraud..we can't live in a villa.

1850 C. Dickens in Househ. Words 18 May 169/1 He [sc. the begging-letter writer] is one of the most shameless frauds and impositions of this time.

1885 F. B. Van Voorst Without Compass 12 I had called him an old fraud.

1895 Standard Dict. Fraud..specifically..a person, firm, or corporation declared by the Postmaster-general..to be engaged in obtaining money by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, [etc.]..and therefore debarred from obtaining payment of money-orders or the delivery of registered letters.