"lobster back", dates from 1812

[Joel S. Berson]

My tertiary source failed me: his quotation from a secondary source
turns out to be the secondary source's own words from 1964.  So I do
not have a pre-Revolutionary (would have been c1745) "lobster back".

But since the OED does not have any lobster-backs, I'll point to the
following, which discusses the very question:  when did
"lobster-back" appear?  It finds the earliest in 1812, via America's
Historical Newspapers:

http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2007/11/british-soldiers-werent-called.html
(dated Nov. 5, 2007)

Joel

At 8/20/2008 06:41 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 8/20/2008 03:12 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>>On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 01:00:41PM -0400, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> > The OED seems not to have "lobster back" = British soldier, although
>> > it does have just plain "lobster" "3. a. A contemptuous name for: A
>> > British soldier. The name was originally applied to a regiment of
>> > Roundhead cuirassiers from their wearing complete suits of armour
>> > (cf. 1d above). In later times it has been referred to the
>> > characteristic red coat.", from c1643.
>> >
>> > Should the OED also include "lobster back"?
>>
>>Yes.
>>
>>Jesse Sheidlower
>>OED
>
>NTAIW.  Now I'll have to track it down.  :-)   (Since it's in quotes
>in a tertiary source, I don't know yet whether the secondary source
>also quotes it and cites a primary source.  But if so, the date will
>be pre-Revolutionary by nearly 30 years.)
>
>I will not trace the modern usage for something in heating,
>ventilation, and sheet-metal work (e.g., "lobster cowl"), which seems
>to go back to 1822 -- An Historical and Descriptive Account of the
>Steam Engine: Comprising a ... - Page 61
>by Charles Frederick Partington - Steam-engines - 1822 [Google Books].
>
>Joel
>
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