"in the run-up to"

[Mark Spahn]

The word "run-up" in the sense of "the period or sequence of events
preceding and leading up to (an event)" seems to be relatively new,
at least in the United States.  In this sense, the word "run-up" is
almost always used in the phrase "in the run-up to (some event)".
For a more detailed discussion, see the article at
http://gally.net/leavings/00/0089.html

The meaning of this sense of "run-up" is so easily inferrable
that hardly anyone who hears it for the first time will wonder
what it means and consult a dictionary.

Some of the American Dialect Society members who frequent
this mailing list have "antedating" resources to check for the
earliest citation for a given expression.
Would anyone care to try and find the earliest usage of
"run-up" *in this sense* and *in the United States*?

-- Mark Spahn  (West Seneca, NY, USA)

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