Trucking(1929)-in a non-automotive sense

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:43:00 -0400, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

>>      "Moving in" or "trucking up" means wheeling the camera (on a
>>small rubber-tired wagon or "dolly") closer to the characters."
>>
>>Since Hollywood would be a primary source of slang, would it be wrong
>>to think that if a term like "trucking up" was around in 1929, a term
>>such as "trucking down" would also exist?
>
>I think this inference would be very dubious. This "up" doesn't seem to be
>the one which is the opposite of "down". This is like "tighten up"; there
>is no "tighten down" or "loosen down". Or maybe like "move up" meaning
>"move forward" (opposite is not "move down" but rather "move back").

Note also that the _Bookman_ cite is already in the OED (under "dolly",
n.1, def 4h, and cross-referenced under "truck", v.2, def. 4).


--Ben Zimmer