well-establishedadj.

1559 W. Bavand tr. J. Ferrarius Common Weale vii. iv. f. 148 Yea, thei expelled soche as came vnto their citee, and stoode them in no steade: not as Thucidides saieth, fearyng lest thei would not followe the order of their common weale, so well established.

1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 163 We are not contented to seeke them out vnder their roofes, vnlesse we..preferre them before our owne countrimen and citizens in the offices and honorable places of this kingdome, against the law and right of euerie good and well established policie.

1648 F. Nethersole Strong Motive to Passing of Generall Pardon 3 A well-established government of long continuance.

1658 W. Sanderson Compl. Hist. Life King Charles 44 The Treasuries of his Maiesty have been..strangely mis-imployed with strange confusion of the Accompts, and overthrow of the well established ancient Orders of his Majesties exchequer.

1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. xviii. 308 We ought..to stand firm in such well-established Principles, and not be tempted to change..for the sake of every Difficulty.

1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 188/1 There are therefore many well-established families in this last-mentioned place.

1852 H. C. Watson Cybele Britannica III. 183 A well established agrestal weed.

1887 Spons' Househ. Man. 714 Some well-established shop, famed rather for the soundness of its goods than for their apparent cheapness.

1903 S. T. Dunn Prelim. List Alien Flora Brit. 4 There are..many species here classed as aliens which are old and well-established weeds in cultivated land, roadsides, and field borders.

1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 75/3 The merging of these two well-established firms is comparatively recent.

1985 A. Lurie Foreign Affairs i. 3 She..has a well-established reputation in the expanding field of children's literature.

2006 Sunday Star-Times (Auckland) (Nexis) 2 Apr. (Business section) 4 It has robust, well-established brands in Oyster Bay (export and domestic) and Delegat's (domestic only).

a1685 F. North Argument in Case between W. Soames & S. Barnardiston (1689) 4 In this Case I have only considered the foundations of the Action, which if I had found well established upon Reason, or the Grounds of Law, I would have Examined.

1711 Ld. Shaftesbury Characteristicks II. iv. 38 That sound and well-establish'd Reason, which alone can constitute..a uniform and steddy Will and Resolution.

1786 T. Cavallo in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 77 11 It is a proposition well established in magnetics, that soft iron, or soft steel, acquires magnetism very easily.

1865 J. Lubbock Prehist. Times xi. 337 Although there are some well-established cases of national decay.

1870 F. C. Bowen Logic xii. 394 Any well-established Law of Nature.

1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 33/2 There are several facts that are well established: more of them are killed in a single day by their natural enemies than are taken by all the steamers in a dozen seasons; [etc.].

2002 A. N. Wilson Victorians ii. 25 There are two well-established medical and genetic facts about the British royal family.