1692 J. Dryden Cleomenes v. ii. 53 A Soul, not conscious to it self of Ill, Undaunted Courage, and a Master-mind.

1720 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad V. xviii. 557 There shone the Image of the Master Mind.

1791 P. Francis Let. 27 Apr. in Francis Lett. (1901) II. 388 If you want to see the oak in all its..strength, read the ninth report, the sole undoubted property of the commanding master-mind of Edmund Burke.

1821 W. Hazlitt Table-talk I. ix. 198 He shews the marks of a great moving intellect, so that we trace the master-mind, and can sympathise with the springs that urge him on.

1841 E. A. Poe Colloquy Monos & Una in Graham's Mag. Aug. 52/2 At long intervals some master-minds appeared, looking upon each advance in practical science as a retro-gradation in the true utility.

1857 C. Dickens Little Dorrit ii. xxiv. 529 The master-mind of the age..became mute again.

1909 P. G. Wodehouse Mike xxxii. 183 You can't expect two master-minds like us to pig it in that room downstairs.

1949 E. Jenkins Six Criminal Women 11 Hers was one of the earliest master-minds in advertising.

1985 Telegraph & Argus (Bradford) 25 May 28/3 The system works well—only an experienced cadence braking expert could hope to compete with the electronic mastermind.

1872 A. Trollope Eustace Diamonds lxix, in Fortn. Rev. 18 725 The police thought that I had been the master-mind among the thieves.

1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-dog Drummond v. 121 A gang of international criminals..controlled by a master-mind.

1960 Observer 24 Jan. 5/2 These were recognised prop-men or putters up of jobs, what the mugs called master minds.

1997 Esquire Feb. 67/1 TV-network masterminds..now spent their evenings cozying up with..melon-domed intellectual dinner-party types.

1923 Salt Lake Tribune 16 Oct. 12/5 Little Miller Huggins did a bit of masterminding himself in that stirring eighth.

1939 T. T. Flynn in Detective Fiction Weekly 2 Dec. 25/1 A master mind might have bluffed it out easily. But tonight I wasn't master-minding. I was only Mike Harris, with a club in my hand.

1973 A. Hunter Gently French viii. 74 Quarles has master-minded for several of the gangs.

1991 FlyPast (BNC) Nov. 15 With Spencer masterminding.

1927 Salt Lake Tribune 6 Dec. 16/1 Rice Institute saw the retirement of John W. Helaman, athletic director and head coach of football, after thirty-six years of masterminding the east, south and midwest.

1941 Time 26 May 24/2 The Telegram hired a series of detective storytellers to mastermind the Hess case.

1949 R. Chandler Little Sister xxi. 151 Somebody had to master-mind this deal.

1954 C. Oliver Field Expedient in W. F. Nolan Edge of Forever (1971) 130 You've master-minded enough from this end.

1964 S. Bellow Herzog (1965) 220 I'm willing to coach your clean-cut lawyer, and mastermind the whole trial.

1992 D. Morgan Rising in West iii. xvi. 290 Mapson masterminded the fund-raising program for the big new Herndon Avenue facility.

1996 Independent 9 Jan. 3/1 A renowned expert..masterminded the plot to smuggle in and hatch Australian cockatoos which he then sold for thousands of pounds.