a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1968 In kides blod he wenten it, Ðo was ðor-on an rewli lit.

a1350 in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 39 Whittore þen þe moren-mylk, wiþ leofly lit on lere.

a1400–50 Alexander 4336 Nouthire to toly ne to taunde transmitte we na vebbis, To vermylion ne violett ne variant littis.

c1425 Wyntoun Cron. v. vii. 1381 Fayr and quhyt, but ony lyt.

1768 A. Ross in Whitelaw Bk. Sc. Song (1844) 361/1 A pair o' grey hoggers weil cluikit benew, Of nae other lit but the hue of the ewe.

1832 A. Henderson Sc. Prov. 128 It's like Pathhead lit—soon on, soon aff.

13.. Childh. Jesus 677 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen 74 336 Bot we vs hame faste nowe hye Alle oure litte thane mone we tyne.

1457 Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 49/1 It is sene speidfull, þat lit be cryit vp, and vsyt as it was wont to be.

1612 Bk. Customs & Valuation in A. Halyburton Ledger (1867) 321 Litt, callit orchard litt, the barrell—xii li.

1650 J. Row & J. Row Hist. Kirk Scotl. (1842) 432 It is excellent litt.

1822 S. Hibbert Descr. Shetland Islands 442 The Lichen tartareus yields a lit or dye, that was formerly an article of commercial notice.

1884 D. Grant Lays & Legends of North 4 The dyster..lost..a' his claith, His bowies, pots, an' lit.

1662 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) III. 605 [Confession] M. B. and I went in to A. Cumings litt-hows in Aulderne.

1850 E. C. Gaskell Let. 25 Jan. (1966) 103 Mr Tom Taylor (the late Professor of Eng. Lit. in University College).

1870 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 11 Feb. (1956) V. 77 The lentisc or mastich tree..figures both in Greek and Roman lit.

1946 L. Durrell Let. 20 Oct. in Spirit of Place (1969) 87 In Athens I am going to see Seferis and Katsimbalis and give modern lit a bashing with them.

1959 Observer 8 Mar. 22/2 Chadwick's opposition to tacking on ‘Lit’ to ‘Lang’, followed by his decision to leave the English Tripos.

1964 W. Markfield To Early Grave (1965) xii. 252 Perhaps if I should ever give a regional lit course.

1973 P. Geddes Ottawa Allegation xiii. 173 She..worked in publishing... She was into Canadian Lit. before he could draw breath.

1975 New Yorker 21 Apr. 103/3 You don't get much of that in Russian lit.

1895 W. C. Gore in Inlander Nov. 64 Lit, literary student.

1900 Dial. Notes 2 45 Lit, n., the Literary Monthly, Quarterly, etc., a student publication.

1930 Eng. Jrnl. 19 632 Whatever wit or lightness of heart characterizes the magazines appears in the East; the Western ‘lits’ are in dead earnest.

1936 L. C. Douglas White Banners viii. 171 Naturally the ‘Lits’ began to view Professor Ward with a new respect.

1895 W. B. Yeats Let. 20 Jan. (1954) ii. 245 Not one word was said about the Irish Lit Society and Prof Dowden expressed scorn for the Irish Lit movement.

1932 H. Nicolson Diary 19 Oct. (1966) 122 Kingsley Martin..wants me to become the literary editor... But I..could not expect to make more than £1,000 a year as Lit. Ed.

1932 V. Woolf Let. in K. Martin Editor (1968) i. 30 I used to try to write regularly for The Times Lit. Sup.

1935 N. Mitchison We have been Warned iv. 437 He showed her his reviews... The Lit. Sup. had been dull, the New Statesman annoying.

1962 M. Drabble Summer Bird-cage xi. 206 ‘I could have guessed that from his books. They lack compassion.’ ‘How beautifully, how lit. critically you put it.’

1963 ‘N. Blake’ Deadly Joker ii. 33 The Americans had..begun to make an industry of lit. crit.

1968 Lebende Sprachen 13 110/2 Jet-age litcrit.

1968 ‘E. McGirr’ Lead-lined Coffin ii. 44 Rostron sat making derisive noises over the Sunday lit. sups.

1973 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Apr. 401/5 The refingered worry-beads of lit-crit jargon.

1729 E. Hawker Country-wedding 6 Like well-lit Marrow-Bones, I fry, I burn!

1800 Observer 3 Aug. The great Cotton Mil..has been totally destroyed by fire, supposed to have been occasioned..by a lit candle falling amongst the hurds.

1865 A. C. Swinburne Atalanta in Calydon 1928 My lit eyes Flame with the falling fire that leaves his lids Bloodless.

1936 R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 18 My own lit heart, its rays of fire.

1973 I. Horovitz Cappella l. 112 The mansion faced him, almost dark but for the single small lit bulb in the top-floor corridor.

2015 Duluth (Minnesota) News-Tribune (Nexis) 5 Nov. He poured gasoline through a window..then threw a lit match into the building.

1783 in H. Meziere Elmar & Ethlinda 56 Along the moon-lit shore,—a dreary waste,—no peaceful Indian watch'd her rising orb.

1820 P. B. Shelley Cloud in Prometheus Unbound 198 When sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardours of rest and of love.

1883 R. Broughton Belinda (1984) 173 Reclining in mirthful ease in a comfortable fauteuil in the lit theatre, beside a beautiful, strange, fond woman.

1948 ‘R. Crompton’ Family Roundabout xvii. 253 Standing there with him in the brightly lit room..she felt herself swept up on a wave of exultant happiness.

2001 BBC Wildlife Sept. 9/2 Green lacewings..are among the insects drawn to lit windows and often find their way indoors.

1912 D. R. Richberg In the Dark xii. 215 A good time here is like getting ‘lit’ in a church bazaar.

1939 M. Allingham Mr. Campion & Others i. ii. 37 Driving round the country with a topper over your eyes and a blanket round your neck at three o'clock in the morning... You must have been lit.

1943 B. Appel Dark Stain xiv. 305 He knew she was lit. She was smoking the sticks, the reefers, marihuana. He was worried about getting lit himself, breathing in the smoke.

2000 Slate Mag. (Nexis) 30 Aug. Probably the only thing more depressing than the possibility that Bush was totally lit that night is that he appears to be sober.

2009 @MidnightPR 11 July in twitter.com (accessed 28 Aug. 2019) The party is lit... Someone started howling when the DJ played Thriller... I'm ready to bust a move.

2018 New Musical Express (Nexis) 22 Jan. The music is lit.

c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 138 He liteð cruelte wið heow of rihtwisnesse.

13.. Childh. Jesus 657 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen 74 336 Thies clathis sente he hedire to mee For to litte thayme.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter lxvii. 25 Þat þi fote be littid in blode.

a1400 Burgh Laws xx, in Sc. Stat. I Na man bot a burges sall by woll to lytt [L. ad tingendum] na clathe to mak na schere.

1496 Treat. Fysshynge wyth Angle in Bk. St. Albans (rev. ed.) sig. iiij^v The wynges of the redde cocke hakyll and of the drake lyttyd yelow.

1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid vii. x. 35 New sched blude littis thair armour cleyr.

1557–8 Act 4 & 5 Philip & Mary c. 5 §3 The Wooll [shall]..bee first dyed, litted and coulered withe the coulour blue.

1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem Table 107 Wooll to be littid may not be bocht, bot be Burgessis.

1683 G. Meriton York-shire Dial. (E.D.S. No. 76) 622 I heve some Garne to send with thee to Lit.

1818 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (ed. 2) 15 Weel dy'd and litit through and through.

1841 R. W. Hamilton Nugæ Lit. 359 To let is to dye, but not in fast colours.

1801 W. Beattie Fruits Time Parings 8 Wi' this my face began to lit.

a1886 D. Grant Sc. Stories (1888) 30 Her face littit scarlet.

1897 Shetland News 28 Aug. 8/1 Wi' a hap o' Sibbie 's an' my muckle blue lit froke inunder her head an' shooders.

1483 Cath. Angl. 219/1 Littyd, jnfectus.

1820 J. Hogg in Whitelaw Bk. Sc. Song (1844) 509/2 Wi' littit brogues an' a', lassie, Wow but ye'll be vaunty!

1860 C. Innes Scotl. in Middle Ages viii. 237 A stone of litted wool.