"progressed" transitive

[Joel S. Berson]

Common these centuries in Britain, I think, which
might explain (excuse?) the Canadian.  The OED
has this sense, but -- interestingly -- says orig. U.S.:

5. trans. To cause (something) to advance or move
forward; esp. to cause (work, a task, etc.) to
make regular progress towards completion, to
expedite (orig. U.S.).  [revision Sept.
2008]  Earliest citation:  1780 Out-of-Door Parl.
76 A glorious war, commenced in justice and progressed in success.

The most recent citations evidence Britishness
(e.g., "programme"):  1954 ‘N. SHUTE’ Slide Rule
184, I was chiefly occupied..in progressing the
design and construction of the factory at
Portsmouth. 1965 E. GOWERS Fowler's Mod. Eng.
Usage (ed. 2) 479/2 Progress...
Pr{omac}´gr{ebreve}s is usual for the transitive
verb, now much used in the manufacturing and
building industries in the sense of pushing a job
forward by regular stages. 1990 Times Educ.
Suppl. 14 Sept. 9/5 The intention..is to progress
pupils through the school at levels appropriate
to their abilities. 2002 Contract Jrnl. 19 June
(CJ2 Suppl.) 4/3 The developer was keen to
progress the building programme quickly.

And wasn't there similar discussion about a
similar verb, in the context of schools and teachers?

Joel

At 9/25/2008 11:32 PM, James Harbeck wrote:
>This evening, at a dance theatre gala, I heard Karen Kain (a luminary
>in Canadian ballet) give a speech in which she used "progressed"
>transitively, as in (I didn't have a pencil with me to write it down
>at the time, so this is not the exact wording) "these dancers have
>progressed the arts in Canada over the past quarter century." In
>other words, in parallel to transitive "grow." This seems unusual,
>perhaps new, to me. I'm not sure whether it's more common elsewhere.
>
>James Harbeck.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org