Antedating of "Reliever" & Definition Correction

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:

> "class all" should read "class of all".  I meant to say that a relief
> pitcher ("reliever") can relieve _any_ pitcher, including starting
> pitchers, or other relief pitchers.

"Class of all" is what I, and probably everyone else, thought you meant.
But the point is that the OED definition ("A pitcher who relieves the
opening picher") is incorrect because it is underinclusive, it excludes
the reliever who relieves another reliever.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
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