primary, v. (antedatings)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The Hartford Courant turns out to be a rich source for antedatings of
the verb "primary", perhaps due to the long tradition of Connecticut
primary elections.

The OED3 entry for the verb currently relies on cites given in this post:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0502B&L=ads-l&P=R883

Antedatings below.


* primary, v. intr. 'to run in a primary election' (OED3 1978)

1951 _Hartford Courant_ 23 Sep. 15/1 Newspaper polls in New Hampshire
have raised the question whether General MacArthur will primary there
next March.


* primary, v. trans. 'to oppose (someone) in a primary election' (OED3 1982)
[OED3 also lists a 1908 cite for this sense, but I think it should be
bracketed as it's for "out-primary" ("The senator was out-primaried"),
not quite the same thing.]

1958 _Hartford Courant_ 8/5 Kelly and Werner indicated after the
meeting they would primary Curry and Margolis for Town Committee posts
on April 16.


* primary, v. trans. 'to contest (a location) in a primary election'
(not yet in OED)

1960 _Hartford Courant_ 8 Apr. 30/4 We will run a primary and we will
win, and we will 'primary' as many other towns of Tolland County as
necessary.


--Ben Zimmer

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