sherpas, sherpa guide

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:54:47PM -0400, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > In an MSNBC report on the Obama-Netanyahu meetings a reported said,
> > "The sherpas prepared well..," presumably referring to the staffs of
> > the two leaders.
>
> NOAD has the definition, "a civil servant or diplomat who undertakes preparatory
> political work prior to a summit conference." Random House and Encarta also
> include this sense.

...as does OED itself, with the clause "an official who makes
the preparations for a summit conference" as part of its sense
on fig. use of _sherpa_. The entry does need updating, though.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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