old hat

[Jonathon Green]

George Thompson wrote:
> [...] I notice the nearly 100 year gap in the OED's citations between 1796
> and 1893, and that both these are from dictionaries.
Nice _NY Sporting Whip_ stuff, George. A couple more mid-century
'free-range' examples:

1841 in _The Gentleman’s Spicey Songster_ [song title] ‘Mother H’s
Knocking Shop; or, A Bit Of Old Hat!’

c.1864 ‘The Female Auctioneer’ in Anon. _The Rakish Rhymer_ (1917) 137:
And if your [sic] fond of nice— _old hat_, / I’ve some that you can buy.



JG

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