> as lemmas

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 591 That stab in the back touch was quite in keeping with those Italianos.

1934 R. H. Lutz Causes of German Collapse in 1918 v. 132 (heading) The ‘stab-in-the-back’ question.

1934 R. H. Lutz tr. von Kuhl in Causes of German Collapse in 1918 v. 132 Some maintain that we lost the war owing to the stab in the back administered to the Army by those at home... On the other side the ‘stab-in-the-back legend’ is rejected as ‘one of the most malignant and..stupidest legends’.

1953 J. W. Wheeler-Bennett Nemesis of Power i. i. 67 For several days before his actual appearance..Hindenburg was closeted with..the extreme Nationalist leaders. In this brief period was crystallized the legend of the ‘stab-in-the-back’, in justification of which many innocent Germans were to suffer when the National Socialists came to power.

1953 J. W. Wheeler-Bennett Nemesis of Power i. i. 67 The Marshal [sc. Hindenburg] testified..on November 18... He..addressed himself to the German people. Their defeat, he told them, was not attributable to the Army but to the civilian demoralization and disunion. The irreproachable Army had received a ‘stab-in-the-back’ (Dolchstoss) from the Revolution.

1959 Times 21 Oct. 13/4 Professor Nordhoff, the managing director of Volkswagen, reacted as if he were the victim of another stab-in-the-back legend.

1971 A. Bullock 20th Cent. 25/1 Our knowledge of the recent past..will be based on hear-say, myths (‘the Stab in the Back’, for instance).

1916 G. B. Shaw in N.Y. Times Mag. 9 Apr. 2/2 The cry that ‘England's Difficulty Is Ireland's Opportunity’ is raised in the old senseless, spiteful way as a recommendation to stab England in the back when she is fighting some one else.

1932 R. Kipling Limits & Renewals 384 He makes my job ten times more difficult than it need be..stabs me in the back with his crazy schemes for betterment.

1956 N. Nicolson Diary 4 Nov. in Diaries & Lett. H. Nicolson (1968) 315 I did not want to publish any letter until the crisis in Egypt had ended, as otherwise I might be accused of stabbing the troops in the back.

1979 F. Olbrich Sweet & Deadly viii. 91 All these years with me he's been completely honest and now he stabs me in the back.