literally = "so to speak; metaphorically or hyperbolically" (1864)

Wed Jul 5 21:15:56 UTC 2006

OED actually has one from 1863, written by the English actress Fannie Kemble after she'd moved to Georgia.  (OED merely notes "improperly used," but a separate subentry seems warranted.)

  The only value of the following ex.may be that it shows the usage was nationwide by 1864.

  1864 _Daily Alta California_ (San Francisco) (May 14), in A. E. Masich _The Civil War in Arizona_ (Norman: U. of Okla. Press, 2006) 279: Some of the rock, to use a rather inelegant phrase, is literally "lousy with gold."

  JL

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