Fwd: gale n.3 -- ? sense 1.b antedating OED?

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sat Jul 14 01:28:18 UTC 2012


A correspondent suggests that the following two quotations, present
in Johnson's dictionary, fit sense 1.b, "Poet. and in rhetorical
language often used for: A gentle breeze."  If so, they would
antedate the OED's earliest quotation, 1728.

Joel

>Winds
>Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd
> From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells.
>   - Milton
>
>Fresh gales and gentle air
>   - Milton

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list