> as lemmas

1700 P. Newcome Catechetical Course Serm. for Whole Year I. xxi. 445 God seeming hereby to put a Distance between himself and us.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xxxvii. 238 George..drew a long sigh of relief, when the boat had put a returnless distance between them.

1861 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 495/2 Their cavalry running off in a panic, and their General never stopping until he had put twenty miles between himself and the nearest of the plaid-men.

1882 R. L. Stevenson New Arabian Nights I. 152 He desired, above all, to put as great a distance as possible between himself and General Vandeleur.

1919 Outing Mar. 306/2 I wanted to have the gobbler put a little more distance between himself and the poacher.

1959 B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green 161 Some people never leave home; even when they put a thousand miles between them and the street door.

1986 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 13 Feb. 2/3 The Administration sought publicly to put distance between itself and the Japanese decision.

2001 S. Brett Death on Downs (2002) xvi. 113 If I had topped someone, I'd want to put as much distance as I could between me and the body.