cramp one's style (1781)

[Joel S. Berson]

I should have known -- another instance of a colonial newspaper
cribbing from London!  (Here, almost 20 years later.)

Joel

At 11/14/2008 10:40 AM, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 10:15 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Not this literally, but:
> > >
> > > Boston Evening-Post, published as Boston Evening Post.; Date:
> > > 12-30-1751; Issue: 854; Page: [1]  (EAN):
> > >
> > > "Certainly nothing should be retained to cramp or co[...]e [two or
> > > three letters missing due to folded paper] the Genius of the Poet;
> > > who requires full Liberty".
> >
> > "confine", perhaps?
>
>Yep:
>http://books.google.com/books?id=2MIPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA78&dq=cramp-or-confine
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org