> as lemmas

1399 Rolls of Parl.: Henry IV (Electronic ed.) Parl. Oct. 1399 Pleas §10. m. 2 Mercy and grace of the kyng os it longes to hym..in his owene discrecioun.

1432 in Paston Lett. (1904) II. 35 Where he shal have eny persone in his discrecion suspect of mysgovernance.

1547 C. Langton Very Brefe Treat. Phisick ii. iii. sig. E.viii^v The disease may be suche, & the pacientes strength so weake, y^t it shall be nedefull to fede them, both in their fittes, & out of theyr fittes: howbeit I leaue that to the discretion of the Phisition.

1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo Ciuile Conuersat. iii. f. 34 Nor to put himselfe to the discretion of his seruantes, for the ordering of his house.

1693 tr. J. Le Clerc Mem. Count Teckely iii. 73 If Transilvania were left to the Discretion of the Turks [etc.].

1724 J. Swift Let. to Mr. Harding 12 He leaves it to our Discretion.

1780 E. Burke Speech Oeconomical Reformation 81 If a discretion, wholly arbitrary, can be exercised over the civil list revenue..the plan of reformation will still be left very imperfect.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 386 This practice..leaves to the discretion of the workman, the determination of the very matter in which he is most apt to err.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. ii. 185 As to the form of worship, a large discretion was left to the clergy.

1849 Punch 16 42/1 In employing counsel you must use your discretion; but counsel, in being employed by you, must use his discretion also.

1874 J. Morley On Compromise 140 We may all write what we please, because it is in the discretion of the rest of the world whether they will harken or not.

1916 G. Saintsbury Peace of Augustans iii. 126 Those lyrics which, in some modern plays, are left to the discretion of the actor or the reader to put in or leave out.

1965 J. M. Moore MS Trad. Polybius iv. 70 The scribe of D3 used his discretion in adopting readings.

2012 Independent (Freetown, Sierra Leone) (Nexis) 17 Mar. Most important decisions are left to the discretion of the minister to whom almost all key players in the sector are answerable.