1867 Galaxy Aug. 441 The dancer who has passed the chrysalis ballet-girl stage, and is now a full-fledged, butterfly première.

1942 L. Kirstein Bk. of Dance xiv. 319 The great..artist Vaganova,..frequently shines as its première [in the Lac des Cygnes].

1877 Spirit of Times 24 Nov. 454/2 The première of the Tzigane was a very brilliant affair. Of course, the usual elegant audience..was in force.

1889 ‘F. Leslie’ Let. 9 Feb. in W. T. Vincent Recoll. Fred Leslie (1894) II. xxii. 81 It upset all of us and made us more nervous than a première.

1890 G. B. Shaw Let. 28 Feb. (1965) I. 244 This does not..include the expenses of the première at Amsterdam.

1915 Sat. Evening Post 9 Oct. 62/2 She always accompanies me to our premières.

1930 E. Mannin Confessions & Impressions ii. iv. 137 He complimented me on my literary première and told me to keep on writing.

1941 Commonweal 10 Jan. 294/1 The movie première—pronounced pre-meer, with heavy emphasis on the second syllable—is a national phenomenon.

1968 S. Challis Death on Quiet Beach viii. 115 Fane was due to attend a late premier of his current movie.

1990 Twenty Twenty July 4 (advt.) We guarantee to bring you at least 20 TV premières a month.

2003 Daily Tel. 6 Jan. 3/2–3 (caption) Guy Ritchie, a lover of ‘gangster chic’, with his wife Madonna at the premiere of his film.

1768 W. Donaldson Life Sir Bartholomew Sapskull II. xx. 161 The venerable dame of antiquity, who was recommended..to superintend my premiere actions, till I should grow into power to assist myself.

1912 Woman's Home Compan. Jan. 24/2 It may be polite to refer to Miss Harriet Quimby as our first ladybird,—that title seeming to fit the charming young dramatic editor of Leslie's Weekly better than the more formal and foreign one of ‘première American aviatrice’.

1967 Boston Sunday Herald 26 Mar. 47/4 The Mobile Economy Run, premiere test of automotive mileage potential, will span America's heartland from here to Detroit this year.

1990 Film Comment Mar. 75/2 The first third of the premiere episode is devoted to the way shockwaves of grief and horror spread through the town after the discovery of the lakeside corpse.

2002 Country Life 19 Dec. 71/3 But if the réclame is going to be extended beyond its premiere run, Sophie's Choice will need rigorous cutting.

1844 C. J. Lever Tom Burke II. l. 8 Ah, François, these Mamelukes were not of the ‘premiere force’, after all. I have only been jesting all this time—see here.

1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. 1404/1 Première,..first in a group or company of women; as a première ballet-dancer.

1939 Life 2 Jan. 15/2 Last year blonde Della Carroll was première strippeuse at New York's Paradise restaurant.

1978 J. Galway Autobiogr. (1979) xii. 159 The idea of a British flute-player attempting to get a job in Germany's première orchestra, stunned me.

1992 Sci. Amer. Sept. 44/2 He directed the construction of the premiere particle detector for the world's highest-energy accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

2002 List (Glasgow & Edinb. Events Guide) 25 Apr. 74/3 Pivo, one of Edinburgh's premiere pre-club venues is not closing.

1927 Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune 12 Apr. 5/3 Rogers Hornsby..premiered against the Philadelphia Nationals.

1943 Newsweek 13 Sept. 101 Keepsakes, a new Sunday program..premièred on Blue Sep. 5, 8–8:30.

1975 Publishers Weekly 1 Dec. 62/3 He managed to keep the title in the public eye until the film premiered in December 1939.

1992 Dancing Times May 715/2 A new work..which has been commissioned by Expo 92 where it will premiere..after previews in Utrecht.

2000 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Dec. 286/2 Wheeldon's next new ballet premieres this January at NYCB.

1929 Musical Times 70 268/2 His new setting of ‘Don Giovanni’ is to be premiered at the San Carlo of Naples.

1940 Winchell Coll. (Topeka, Kansas) Jrnl. 11 Dec. 4/6 There's irony in the request of Grinnell college's alumni that Frank Capra should premiere ‘Meet John Doe’ there.

1952 ‘E. Box’ Death in Fifth Position (1954) i. 2 My company is going to première an important new ballet tonight.

1977 Custom Car Nov. 13/4 Saab premiered their long-rumoured Turbo 99.

2005 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. e49 A setting of William Blake's poems for soloists, choruses and orchestra, was premiered at the Stuttgart Opera in 1984.

1961 Mansfield (Ohio) News-Jrnl. 29 Sept. 15/4 Last night's chamber music concert..gave listeners..the surprise of a premiered work.

1991 Campaign (Nexis) 13 Sept. Unless..references to premiered films [are] clarified, the ITV companies will cancel the huge campaign.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 10 Apr. 20/2 The premiere of a bizarre Scots drama, Menzies McKillop's Future Pit, now joined in repertory by a premiering trio of one-acters: Frank B. Ford's Waterman, Gladden Schrock's Glutt, and Michael Casales' Cold.

1996 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 20 Apr. (Weekend Suppl.) 8/7 If you are seeking a wonderfully complex tale delivered by a premiering writer, then this might be it.