> as lemmas

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 181 And fynably they were brought to so strayte metes and boundes that [etc.].

a1475 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Godstow Nunnery (1906) ii. 592 To have and to hold, the forseide diche..as the metis and boundes tiwene hem shewen.

1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. cci. [cxcvii.] 615 The kynge hathe clerely gyuen to hym..the hole duchy of Acquytayne, so as it extendeth in metes and lymytacyons.

1563 W. Baldwin et al. Myrrour for Magistrates (new ed.) Hastings xcii Untimely neuer comes the liues last mett.

1607 J. Norden Surueyors Dialogue i. 19 If the ditches, which are the ordinary meeres, meates and bounds betweene seueral mens lands, be confounded.

1622 W. Scot Course Conformitie 152 The lines and cords of mens wit that creep in and raxe out may serve for civill and secular mets and merches.

1642 tr. J. Perkins Profitable Bk. v. §411. 177 It is a common speech, That the dower of a woman ought to be assigned unto her by metes and bounds.

1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I Perambulation of the Forest, is the Surveying or Walking about the Forest, or the Limits of it, by Justices, or other Officers..to set down the Metes and Bounds thereof.

1768 in Public Rec. Colony of Connecticut (1885) XIII. 52 To ascertain by meets and bounds the width of said cart-road thro said meadow.

1818 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) I. 197 Dower was assigned by metes and bounds, because it was a tenancy of the heir.

1878 S. Lanier Marshes of Glynn 39 As a belt of the dawn, For a mete and a mark To the forest-dark.

1894 Q. Rev. Jan. 30 The introspective genius knows his metes and bounds.

1950 D. M. Stenton Eng. Society in Early Middle Ages iii. 106 The metes and bounds of the forest.

1974 Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 19 Apr. 8B/6 That piece, parcel or lot of land..known and designated as Lots Nos. 4, 5, 6 & 7,..and having..the following metes and bounds, to wit [etc.].