?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 327 The akþe..is ycaused for þe buddes þat growen out..whiche ben gendrede of þe outespredynge [?a1425 N.Y. Acad. Med. excrescensez] of blode.

a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 90 Þe kynde of þe planetys ressayues þe kynde of out-spredyng of waterys.

1860 E. B. Pusey Minor Prophets 112 So wide and universal shall the outspreading be.

1865 H. J. Raymond Life & Publ. Services Abraham Lincoln iii. 83 We must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the Constitution nor the general welfare requires us to extend it.

1883 A. Roberts O.T. Revision v. 106 Can any understand the outspreading of the clouds?

1961 Jrnl. Ecol. 49 176 It represented the periodic outspreading of Calluna from a more or less persistent centre.

1978 R. G. Wesson Communism & Communist Syst. 29 Communism is part of the reaction of traditional societies to the outspreading of modern scientific, industrial power.

1603 Bp. J. Hall Kings Prophecie xl Nor shall the Lordly Peeres once ouerlooke Their humble vassals dwelling all below: Like as we see some large out-spreading Oke Ore-drop the silly shrubs that vnder grow.

1727 W. Somervile Fable XIII in Occas. Poems 216 All his hatchet Face display'd, With scarce six Hairs upon a side, His large out-spreading Luggs to hide.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian ix, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 223 Then, weel may we take wi' patience our share and portion of this out-spreading reproach.

1886 W. Alexander Death of Jacob in St. Augustine's Holiday III. 198 Thoughts, that are surely Faith's outspreading wings.

1943 Amer. Midland Naturalist 29 173 Antennae black throughout; flagellar segments oval, with long outspreading verticils.

1994 F. Ferrarotti Temptation to Forget ix. 66 Their populations were considered human by the victorious, outspreading West only from a zoological point of view, as anthropoids to be ruled.