"He's Rosom'd it" = "he's drunk" (18th c)

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Oct 4 17:26:54 UTC 2005


How about this 1737 expression, "He's Rosom'd
it", meaning intoxicated?  [initial cap as in original; definitely a long s]

I find only two "rosom*" in the OED:

1.  An alternate spelling of "rosin" (n), with
one instance:  1541–2 in Swayne Sarum Churchw.
Acc. (1896) 269 A Torche of Rosome weynge ixli. ijs. iijd.

2.  A quotation   1965 O. Arundell Sadler's Wells
viii. 102 [In 1825] they made Rosoman's old
private house at the New River Head end of the
theatre into box-offices, wine-rooms and saloon.

But Thomas Rosoman "took the lease" for that site
in 1765, so I wonder whether his name was associated with over-drinking.

Joel



More information about the Ads-l mailing list