[Ads-l] pop a cap: big antedating

[GUY LETOURNEAU Owner]

Interesting that the linguistics seemed only slightly affected despite the technological change in the later 19th century from percussion caps / loose powder to fixed ammunition, especially center-fire rounds, with the cap (now called a 'primer') integrated into the cartridge.

Then there is the passive verb 'to be capped' which might be UK usage:
"Momma! I just got capped by a bedell! On the head!" 

- GLL

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'Fire a shot.'  Not in OED.

1893: HDAS (but 1864 "snap a cap")

ca1865
http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/the_vault/2015/08/31/history_of_the_civil_war_pows_sketches_by_a_confederate_prisoner_at_point.html

You little Reb wid de red shirt - double quick into line or I'll pop a cap
at you.

"Bust a cap" is now more usual.

JL
<http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/the_vault/2015/08/31/history_of_the_civil_war_pows_sketches_by_a_confederate_prisoner_at_point.html>

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

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