Shining On

[Jonathan Lighter]

The only semantic reference I've ever been able to think of is the situation where police with flashlights signal traffic around a stopped car or traffic accident at night.  They "shine" the traffic "on," i.e., give it a signal to move on rather than slow down further to gawk.

I watch too much TV.

JL

"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Subject: Re: Shining On
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Chapman's slang dictionary, 2nd ed., shows both:

"Shine someone on" (sense 1) = "to reject and ignore someone; abandon
someone" [also "shine" = "to reject; disregard; avoid"].

"Shine someone on" (sense 2) = "to deceive someone; beguile".

I wonder how the development went semantically. Chapman takes sense 1 as
possibly originally referring to "mooning" someone (turning one's back on
someone). I suppose sense 2 could be independently derived from the hunting
practice of shining deer (baffling the animal with a bright light in order
to kill it at close range) (just my casual speculation). I don't know
exactly why the "on" in either case; maybe in sense 2 it could be inherited
from "put on" or "lead on"?

-- Doug Wilson

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