The EEBO corpus has been "semantically tagged", and you can use these tags as part of your search. A few examples are given below.
 

Semantic tag (click to run) Meaning Sample results
{BA:06} "Armed hostility: defense" fortresse, defended
{AC:01:b:06} "Health and disease: Respiratory disorders, coughing" pleurisie, pneumonic, empyema
{BI:09:c:10} "Occupation and work: Worker: Manual/industrial worker: Miner" miner, coal-owner, collier
WORD(S)
[WORK]
COLLOCATES: {BI:09:c:10}
WORK near "Occupation and work: Worker: Manual/industrial worker: Miner" worke || miners
{AY:04:f:04} "Society: Social relations: Exclusion from society" disowned, lepers
{BI:05} "Occupation and work: Business affairs" companie, transacted
WORD(S)
{AY:04:f:04}
COLLOCATES: BI:05
"Business" near "exclusion" company || disowning
{AU:11} "Emotions: Happiness" happinesse, delighted
he|she|they BE {AU:11} I am "Emotions: Happiness" that they are happy
he was ioyfully
{AR:13} "The mind: Idealism" heaven, romantick
{AR:13} [[=idea]] "The mind: Idealism" + [all forms of all synonyms of idea] abstract ideas, implicite belief