> as lemmas

1836 New Sporting Mag. Oct. 361 [The batsmen's scores] added to the byes they stole, and the wide balls bowled, sufficed to make a hands of eighty-six runs.

1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field x. 196 A sharp runner..will often try a longstop's temper by stealing runs.

1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. viii. 388 He has stolen three byes in the first ten minutes.

1862 N.Y. Sunday Mercury 13 July 6/2 Creighton..made his base by a missed fly-catch of Sawyer's; Brainard and Young getting their runs by stealing in on the pitcher and catcher.

1874 H. Chadwick Base Ball Man. 47 If he [the batsman] steal home on the catcher or pitcher.

1881 R. Forgan Golfer's Handbk. 35 Steal, to hole an unlikely ‘put’ from a distance.

1882 Daily Tel. 24 June He next took Ramsay round to the leg boundary, and shortly stole a single off him also.

1891 N. Crane Baseball iv. 32 His antics in trying to deceive the fielders and steal a base excite great amusement among the..spectators.

1895 G. J. Manson Sporting Dict. Stealing a Base. When a base runner makes his next base by leading off and then running while the ball is being thrown by the pitcher to the catcher.

1895 Times 19 Feb. 11/4 The Englishmen were able to steal many runs.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 247/1 (Cricket) Steal runs, to get a run for a hit, when no run seems reasonably possible.

1936 Philadelphia Rec. 31 July 15/1 No Landon speech is likely to startle anybody. You know in advance that he will never take a full cut at the ball, try to steal a base or catch a line drive with one hand.

1938 M. Dutton Hockey vi. 110 It is hard enough to steal the puck in your own end zone, without trying to regain a lost puck in the other fellow's.

1942 C. Bee Basketball Library IV. ii. 7 An attempt to ‘steal’ the ball from a good dribbler often leaves the defensive player out of position.

1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 18/3 Ballantyne was ahead 5–3 going into the sixth end, but Lawrie tied it up in the seventh and stole one in each of eighth and ninth for the victory.

1978 Boston Globe 4 Jan. 42/2 Hollins stole the ball with seven seconds to play and scored.