Antedating of "Reliever" & Definition Correction

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:14 PM -0600 1/15/06, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>"class all" should read "class of all".  I meant to say that a
>relief pitcher ("reliever") can relieve _any_ pitcher, including
>starting pitchers, or other relief pitchers.

doesn't help, as noted--a reliever *is* a member of the class of all
pitchers, but he's not a member of the class of opening pitchers.
This would be like defining a substitute teacher as a teacher who
replaces a regular female teacher.  The class of teachers includes
substitute teachers and it also includes female teachers, But that
doesn't mean that a substitute teacher can be defined as a
replacement for a female teacher.  Neither can a relief pitcher be
defined as one who replaces an "opening" pitcher.

Larry

>
>On Sun, 15 Jan 2006, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>
>>>  [NOTE: The definition in OED, "A pitcher who relieves the opening
>>>  pitcher," is incorrect, since the reliever frequently relieves another
>>>  reliever.]
>>>
>>>  Fred Shapiro
>>
>>  If a reliever is a member of the class all pitchers (which includes,
>>  also, "opening pitchers"), then the OED definition would be correct.
>
>Huh??
>
>Fred