provedadj.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) 3 Kings x. 17 He ȝaf in..þre hundrid bokeleris of most prouyd gold.

?c1450 in Anglia (1896) 18 297 Þis is prowyd thynge for þe syth.

1562 in F. J. Furnivall Child-marriages, Divorces, & Ratifications Diocese Chester (1897) 207 [She] said he was ‘a provid thief, & all his kinne’; and apon that, he callid her ‘provid hoore’.

1584 R. Greene Morando sig. Ej Such loue in my opinion, no wise man either will or can commende, for if to loue were good, as is now in question, yet tis a proued principle.

?1605 J. Davies Wittes Pilgrimage l. 75 For, if the Sire a proued Traitor be Hees plagu'd him selfe.

1742 H. Downman Belisarius ii. iii. 261 Wouldst thou then to save The proved offenders, view our fertile provinces Laid waste by civil broils?

a1846 A. T. de Vere Mary Tudor (1847) ii. iv. ii. 263 This Peyto skulks in lanes, Like a proved knave.

1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. xi. 326 A custom of proved antiquity.

1941 O. Helmer tr. A. Tarski Introd. Logic i. vi. 118 Statements established in this way are called proved statements or theorems.

1993 Sci. Amer. Oct. 95/2 A proved vector of dengue fever, the Asian tiger mosquito.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) 2 Tim. ii. 15 Kepe to ȝyue thi silf a preued, preisable werkman to God.

c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Augustine (1910) 14 (MED) He, with ful good a-vise, sent hem Austyn, a proued maystir.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xvii. 25 The temptaciouns of proued men.

1587 L. Mascall First Bk. Cattell (title page) Search herein, and thou shalt find, of prooued remedies quickly.

1683 R. Baxter Dying Thoughts App. 266 Such as depends on the extraordinary skill and honesty of some proved men.

1799 E. Inchbald tr. A. von Kotzebue Wise Man of East i. ii. 18 I lost a proved friend.

1850 T. T. Lynch Memorials Theophilus Trinal ix. 176 The saved companies of heaven will be..happy societies of proved men.

1895 J. M. Falkner Lost Stradivarius xi. 166 Mrs Temple had administered to her a soothing draught of proved efficacy.

1935 E. P. Prentice Breeding Profitable Dairy Cattle v. 95 It is not registered bulls that are needed for breed improvement..but proved bulls.

1944 Ld. Alanbrooke Diary 13 Nov. in War Diaries (2001) 624 General Juin is a very pleasant type, easy to get on with, a proved good general in the field.

1991 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 9 Mar. 591/1 Methods that have a proved track record against more radical measures.

1890 Whitaker's Almanack 640 (heading) Where to find a proved will.

1628 O. Felltham Resolves: 2nd Cent. lxxvii. 221 One would thinke it strange,..yet it is provedly true.

1850 Times 27 Mar. 5/1 Confessedly and provedly the bruises and injuries on the child's body had been caused by the hands of [Robert and Sarah Bird].

1901 Notes & Queries 9th Ser. 8 455/1 Of the plays contained in the present volume two only are provedly his.

1990 Guardian (Nexis) 9 July They do not envisage the possibility that a party that won an election under a provedly false prospectus could subsequently be relegated to the second division.