the verb(s) "second-best"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

a little while back, an australian poster to soc.motss, describing how
she approached the silly american dialect test, noted that she'd "had
to second-best a couple of answers".  i asked her what she'd meant by
the verb "second-best", and she explained:
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It isn't a common locution, but I checked with my mother and she has
heard it.

I chose the least wrong answer: the one people would understand even
though they'd be unlikely to use it...
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this is, of course, an explanation of what she did on the test, not an
account of the meaning of "second-best".  but we can hypothesize that
to second-best an answer is to choose the best of the alternatives
offered, even though it's inferior to (that is, is second to) another
answer, which is not available.  this makes sense: it's choosing the
second-best thing.

i have only a few other cites of the verb "second-best" in something
like this sense:
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So I second bested it by getting Unreal Championship. But I digress.
Multiplayer on the PC version is great. Nothing original or
groundbreaking here; ...
(www.futurelooks.com/display.php?i=221&p=5)

déjeuner affaires, good value next to à la carte offerings of €95
lobster and a €65 glass of wine - and still not feel that you’re
second-besting it.
(www.timeout.com/paris/rest/4.html)
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there are also a few occurrences of a verb "second-best" that looks
like an eggcorn for "second guess":
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Among them, Wilder's reaction to the crix who voted Spielberg's movie
the best
and second-bested his direction, "I am aghast. ...
(print.google.com/print/doc?articleid=nKYj0oMIG4G)
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but it's not hard to collect occurrences of a *different* verb
"second-best", a causative transitive meaning roughly 'to cause to be
second-best, to put into second place, to best, to beat', as in:
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Phil Ochs’ second besting of Dylan on the political front; Spider
John’s astral projection into different times and bodies; or the
presence of mature ...
(www.crecon.com/davidwomack/bobdylan-rockandroll.htm)

Budhanilakantha College was second besting four other short listed
competitors  which also did their best but could not fulfill the
requirements the...
(www.brookfield.edu.np/news2.htm)

Lipatti and Rubinstein, I'm afraid, are second-bested by Perahia in
this piece. In the Fantasie in f minor, Perahia's virtuosity is always
at the ...
(www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1D39RWHVM0XPY)

Foreigner's "Waiting for A Girl Like You" was second-bested for 10
weeks by two different singles, a phenomenon that must frustrate the
artist.
(www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ tg/detail/-/0823076954?v=glance)

i am left in his shadow to wonder why it is they like him so much yes
he has a cool and he can talk to women but why is it i feel second
bested by him ...
(black_jack_25.campuskiss.com/)
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neither "second-best" 'choose the second-best thing' nor "second-best"
'put into second place' is in the OED Online, which has no entries for
a verb "second-best".

arnold