> as lemmas

1485–1509 in Grose's Antiquarian Repertory (1809) IV. 408 The margent sylver and the notis sabill.

?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 53 According to my sable weid I mon haif sad maneris.

1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. I4^v He apparailed himselfe in armour, colour sables, as mourning for his Mistres.

1595 R. Johnson Seauen Champions (1608) 72 The walles [were] behung with sable mourning cloth.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ii. 103 This Year the English have cause to write with Sable letters in their Almanack,..that [etc.].

1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Theodore & Honoria in Fables 267 Last came the Fellon on the Sable Steed.

1772 W. Jones Poems 27 His few gray locks a sable fillet bound.

1815 Ann. Reg., Chron. 63 The ceremonies were performed by a sable archbishop.

1821 R. Southey Vision of Judgem. viii. 31 He of the sable mail, the hero of Cressy.

1867 G. H. Lewes Let. 8 Aug. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) IV. 384 Here he translated the Bible, and here he wrestled with Satan, flinging (like a true literary antagonist) his ink-stand at his sable majesty's head, and staining the whitewashed wall.

1875 J. D. Lang Hist. Acct. New S. Wales (ed. 4) I. xi. 393 If Her Majesty could have commissioned the Prince of Darkness to represent her in the Colony.., I doubt not but his sable Excellency would have received a Farewell Address of respect.

1881 J. Grant Cameronians I. ii. 23 Before summoning his sable majesty.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right I. x. 251 When the middle passage is safely passed and the death-scared sable crowd ‘sold and delivered’.

1895 Photos 8 June 10 His sable majesty..is a man of great force of character.