literally = "so to speak; metaphorically or hyperbolically" (1864)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 7/5/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> OED actually has one from 1863, written by the English actress Fannie
> Kemble after she'd moved to Georgia.  (OED merely notes "improperly used,"
> but a separate subentry seems warranted.)

I offered a few examples from a century earlier in this Language Log post:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002611.html


--Ben Zimmer

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