more information on the kibosh, qirbach, kurbash

[Joel S. Berson]

At 6/25/2010 10:14 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:
>If we assume that the court report was accurate, the German Jew was not a
>fluent English speaker; he refers once to "rise the kibosh against me" and
>later "to give the kibosh against me".

I note only that "rise" does (did) have a sense of "6. intr.  a. To
make an attack on a person; to take hostile action against a person.
With {dag}against, {dag}in, {dag}on, upon. Now rare."  Note the
"against", although the use above is transitive.

There is also the transitive "[6.]b. ... Also trans.: to rouse (a
group of people) to action (obs. rare). Also in to rise up. Chiefly
with against; also on, upon."

Neither is exactly the "German Jew"s construction, but it seems
possible it was not a Cockney "raise".

Joel

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