[Ads-l] "novel, n.", 4.d, "an invention", 1736; antedates OED3 (Dec. 2003) 1764--

[Joel Berson]

A Speculation that is a novelle might have been composed sooner, but not a real History: for as amongst Naturalists, many repeated observations and experiments are requisite to form established truths or conclusions ...

Douglass, William. Practical History of a New Epidemical Eruptive Miliary Fever, with anAngina Ulcusculosa which Prevailed in BostonNew-England in the Years 1735 and 1736. Boston: Printed by Thomas Fleet, 1736.  Dedication, [ii].  Google Books, full view.

Sense 4.d. more fully is:  "A story or lie; an invention. Obs. rare.

Joel




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