A lady rider "hot" on horseback

[Jonathan Lighter]

Maybe she was sweating.

JL

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 5:01 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: A lady rider "hot" on horseback
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>
> At 11/24/2011 04:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>This appears to be the sole 19th C. ex. of "look hot on," acc. to GB.
>>
>>Peculiar.
>
> But by book (OED), there is at least one other 19th c. example, the 1845.
>
> Joel
>
>
>>Peculiar.
>>
>>JL
>>
>>On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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>> -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > Subject:      A lady rider "hot" on horseback
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > What do the experts make of "hot" in a letter of Jane
>> > Austen's?  (1805 April 8; see in GBooks "Jane Austen, her Life and
>> > Letters", p. 130.)
>> >
>> > This morning we have been to see Miss Chamberlayne look hot on
>> > horseback. Seven years and four months ago we went to the same
>> > riding-house to see Miss Lefroy's performance! What a different set
>> > are we now moving in!
>> >
>> > Hot, adj. and n. -- possibly:
>> >
>> > "8. Excited ... a. Of a person ... eager, keen"?  (In every century
>> > from OE through 2007.)
>> >
>> > "12. Characterized by intensity or energy ... b. Of speed of movement
>> > or action ... rapid, fast"?  (Earliest 1809.)
>> >
>> > "12. ... c.  colloq. (orig. U.S.) Extremely good ... very skilled,
>> > knowledgeable, or successful. Also with _on_ and a specified subject
>> > or activity."?  (Earliest 1845.)
>> >
>> > I vote for the last, and thus an antedating.  (And :-) another usage,
>> > like "baseball," taken home from the U.S. to England by Austen.)
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
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>>
>>
>>--
>>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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