> as lemmas

a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 1335 As an ok cometh of a litel spir, So þorugh þis letre..Encressen gan desir.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 20^v But tal Cedars, from little graynes shoote high: great Okes, from slender rootes spread wide.]

1580 T. Cooper Certaine Serm. 179 Of a little seede, you see a verie faire and beautifull floure,..of a meane Acorne, a huge and mayne Oke.

1598 R. Tofte Alba iii. sig. F8 Yet still Ile hope, since Acornes, Okes become, And tynie drops proue Floods that streaming runne.

1630 R. Sibbes Brvised Reede 48 A mighty Oake riseth of an Akorne. It is with a Christian as it was with Christ, who sprang out of the dead stocke of Iesse,..but hee grew up higher than the heavens.

1732 T. Fuller Gnomologia 197 The greatest Oaks have been little Acorns.

a1795 D. Everett in C. Bingham Columbian Orator (1797) 58 Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.

1833 Examiner (Philadelphia) 4 Sept. 40/1 ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow,’ and I hope and trust that from your small beginning, this ancient and honorable Commonwealth will again renew her standing.

1839 Sabbath School Visiter 7 179 He proceeded, also, to show what great things little beings can do, by reference to..the little acorns from which the tall oaks grow.

1909 Railway Conductor Dec. 964/2 Great trees from little acorns grow.

1923 Times 13 Oct. 7/2 Here in England, as nowhere else in the world, ‘great oaks from little acorns grow’.

1995 Wire Jan. 20/1 Great oaks from tiny acorns: in 1994 alone, Guy's output has been overwhelming.

2011 Home Hill Observer (Austral.) 10 Mar. He said the project is not just about solving the problem, it is a way of the future. ‘From little acorns mighty oak trees grow.’