put-down

[Leslie Savan]

      Does anyone know the origins of put-down as a noun? I see from the
OED that as a verb put down's meaning of "to 'take down'; to snub..."
goes way back. But I couldn't find it as a noun. I'm under the
impression (and I could be totally wrong) that the noun put-down really
got going during '50s and '60s stand-up comedy and that maybe Lenny
Bruce had something to do with it. Or perhaps it came out of sitcoms of
that era. Any ideas, anyone?