catch-fart

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not in OED. but used by Aldous Huxley, famed wordsmith:
 
1948 A. Huxley _Ape and Essence_ (Rpt. N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1972) 34: Reason comes running, eager to ratify;/Comes, a catch-fart, with Philosophy, truckling to tyrants.
 
But he didn't invent it:
 
1698-99 "B.E." _A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew_ (London: Hawes, Gilbourne & Davis) s.v.: _Catch-fart_, a Foot-Boy. 
 
Nor was he the last to use it:
 
2006  Dewey Lambdin _A King's Trade_ (N.Y.: St. Martin's) 31: The older fellow ...most-like would serve out his years as an humble "catch- fart" to shore-bound admirals.
 
BTW, compared to _Ape and Essence_, Huxley's _Brave New World_ is a pretty sunny 
take on tomorrow.
 
JL




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