"upset"

[Fred Shapiro]

Perhaps Joanne Despres can tell us what the earliest in the M-W files is
for the sports sense of "upset."  And perhaps Jesse can tell us what OED
has in its files.

I used to think it remarkable that a horse named Upset would have pulled
off perhaps the greatest upset in sports history.  But I'm guessing that
it's not so remarkable, that this horse's name contributed to the rise of
the term.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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