Antedatings in The Yale Book of Quotations - 32: Axe to Grind

[Fred Shapiro]

axe to grind (OED 1815)

1810 Charles Miner in _Luzerne Federalist_ 10 Sept. in _Essays from the
Desk of Poor Robert the Scribe_ (1930) 4  When I see a merchant, over
polite to his customers -- begging them to taste a little brandy, and
throwing half his goods on the counter -- thinks I -- _That man has an axe
to grind_."

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org