Antedating of "Phony"

[Fred Shapiro]

phony (OED 1900)

1898 _Wash. Post_ 14 Mar. 8 (ProQuest)  Any member of the Order of Oily
Slicks that could do Jem Mace -- and Jem was done in Frisco about two
decades ago -- could palm off a "phony" gold brick on even Hungry Joe.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
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