a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome (1965) II. 71 Þai þat preponis þe canon law to theologie..þai peruert þe ordour of the kyrk and of cristianite.

1549 R. Crowley Psalter of Dauid xvi. sig. civ^v I do prepone and set the Lord alwaye before myne eyes: He is styll at my right hande, leaste I fall in anye wyse.

1625 A. Gardyne Characters & Ess. Ep. Ded. 5 I stood, and studi'd, whose præponed Name Should dye in Graine, and Luster lend to Them.

1656 T. Blount Acad. Eloquence (ed. 2) xlix. 196 If then by this inviolable tie we are one, your endowments entitle me joint owner; a riches, I prepone to Monarchies.

1701 W. Brown Tutor Clericalis Instructus i. 25 Words and Sentences of Indentures, Acts of Parliament, and other Specialties and Writings ought to be rendred out of English into Latin, in the same Order as they are expres'd in the same, not preponing or postponing any of them with Intent to make the Latin more elegant.

1750 E. Hatton et al. Hill's Arithmetick (rev. ed.) 183 First, find what decimal of a Pound .625 will represent, which is easily done if you prepone a Cypher, and half the Number is the Decimal of a pound.The Number with a Cypher preponed, is .0625, ½ is .03125.

1913 J. J. D. Trenor in N.Y. Times 7 Dec. c6 For the benefit mainly of the legal profession in this age of hurry and bustle may I be permitted to coin the word ‘prepone’ as a needed rival of that much revered and oft-invoked standby, ‘postpone’.

1941 M. Kelley This Great Argument iv. 105 He [sc. Milton] preponed to a period before the foundation of the world certain dogmatic matters connected with the accession of Christ to the mediatorial office of king.

1952 Proc. 39th Indian Sci. Congr. ii. 270 Its adoptation [sic] in Indian villages is ideal, specially for irrigation,..where demand for power can be preponed or postponed not only by hours but even by days in order to comply with meteorological conditions.

1978 Church Times 13 Oct. 8/5 Longman would like to announce that the publication date for Linelights has been preponed (brought forward) from 16th October to 25th September.

1997 Independent 26 July i. 15/3 On my recent visit to Delhi, I was handed a note by my client's driver who met me... The note stated that my meeting with my client had been preponed.

2001 Times of India (Nexis) 22 Feb. [The] transport minister..decided to ask schools to prepone their examinations and start summer vacations in April in view of a transport crisis.